From the lab to the snow, Sydney Peterson balances double duty on path to Milan Paralympics

Sydney Peterson’s days rarely look like those of a typical PhD student.

As a three-time Paralympic medalist and a full-time neuroscience PhD student at the University of Utah, Peterson is one of Team USA’s most compelling young athletes. The 23-year-old is balancing a full-time career while preparing for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, splitting her time between the genetics lab and the snow as a Para Nordic skier. Her days look significantly different than those of her teammates.

“It's a little different because here I was studying and preparing for [qualifying exams] while they were training full-time on snow,” she said. “It's hard work, but I think with the right time management, it's definitely doable.

Peterson is currently working in a rare disease lab at the University of Utah, researching drug repurposing for rare neurodegenerative diseases linked to the FIG4 gene that currently have no FDA-approved treatments. She conducts screens in vivo, outside the body, and in vitro, inside the body, to determine which existing FDA-approved medications can be used to treat rare genetic diseases faster and more affordably.

“All the drugs that we're looking at have already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency,” she said. “They can be readily prescribed for off-label use. The bench-to-bedside process is quite fast. It's a really rewarding area of research.”

While Peterson always had an interest in math and science growing up, her motivation in this phase of her career is personal. The 2022 Paralympic gold medalist grew up east of the Twin Cities in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, and was introduced to Nordic skiing at a young age. She skied with the St. Croix Valley ski club before joining her high school’s ski team in seventh grade and training with the Minneapolis Ski Club.

Peterson began experiencing numbness in her left arm when she was 13 years old. After years of unexplained symptoms and loss of movement on the left side of her body, she was diagnosed with dystonia, a rare neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable muscle contractions and long-term pain.

“Going through my own experience, I've experienced that unmet need of not having answers,” she said. “Once you do get a diagnosis, it's great that you have a label and an answer. But then it's really tough when the doctor tells you, ‘OK, this is what we know is wrong with you.’”

Skiing NCAA Division I for St. Lawrence University at the time, Peterson was determined to keep pursuing her love for the sport in any capacity. Prior to her sophomore year, she reached out to Team USA Paralympic coaches to go through classification for Para Nordic skiing.

“I had skied my whole life,” she said. “So really, at that point in time, it was more about finding ways to continue to do what I love to do. It was a great outlet for not letting some hardship or obstacle make me just sit in a room and be upset about something.”

Peterson’s determination paid off. After racing her first World Cup and World Championship races to become eligible for Paralympic classification in 2021, she claimed gold, silver, and bronze in her Paralympic debut at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing.

“I obviously went in with zero expectations,” she said, recalling the moment she claimed her first Paralympic medal. “I was just stoked to be there. I was like, oh, this is just a fluke. I shouldn't have ended up here. But then I was able to sort of hold on to that results trajectory throughout the rest of the games.”

A year after her triumphs in Beijing, Peterson’s dystonia continued to progress, forcing her to reevaluate her options. Three days after graduating from St. Lawrence in 2023, she underwent a 13-hour surgical procedure known as deep brain simulation in hopes of slowing down her symptoms. While the surgery was successful in halting the progression of her disease, Peterson spent the following year in extensive recovery.

“I was speaking fragments and sentences,” she said. “I had to relearn how to do a lot of things again. But because that's been largely successful, I'm still able to ski, able to be in grad school, able to do a lot of things.”

Since her surgery, Peterson has diligently worked to balance her PhD studies with her training. Although she doesn’t study her specific disease, her experiences with dystonia fueled part of her interest in neuroscience. Experiencing firsthand how beneficial research can be, Peterson wanted to be a part of the work making a difference.

“Research has the ability to possibly impact a lot of people's lives,” she said. “It's a cool area to be in, and grad school can be tough at times, that's for sure, but it's been a fun and rewarding process.”

With preparations for Milan underway, Peterson’s days start before sunrise to stay on top of her training schedule before heading into the lab. She then heads back to training before dark to get in a second ski before returning to her lab to finish analyzing data or completing a school project. Despite the long days, Peterson finds joy in doing what she loves.

“I like having two areas in my life,” she said. “It's nice being able to shut your brain off from one area and shift it over. The attributes that help with discipline in one area and hard work, those qualities definitely transfer over and make you successful in both areas.”

While Peterson would love nothing more than to expand on her results from Beijing, she’s focused on showing up to her races and making the most of her experience in Milan for the love of her sport.

“I never started skiing because I wanted to become an Olympian,” she said. “I just started skiing because I loved to ski.”

Throughout the winter, in a series called Hometown Hopefuls, NBC is spotlighting the stories of Olympic and Paralympic athletes from across the United States as they work towards the opportunity to represent their country at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. We’ll learn about their paths to their sports’ biggest stage, the communities that have been formative along the way, and the causes they’re committed to in their hometowns and around the world. Visit nbcsports.com/hometown-hopefuls for more stories on the road to Milan Cortina.