Sydney Peterson Has the Perfect Mentor for Dealing with The Work-Life Balance of Skiing and Pursuing a PhD

Sydney Peterson has an unusual way of staying busy when she’s on the road and has some free time between her cross-country skiing races and training sessions. 

The three-time Paralympic medalist will analyze the data that she has collected as a research lab assistant and then write about her findings. 

Peterson is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Utah in addition to continuing to train for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in March. To accomplish both, she juggles her long stints in the lab with two workouts a day on skis. 

“I think I’ve been able to strike a pretty good balance,” said Peterson, a 23-year-old native of Lake Elmo, Minnesota. “I generally wake up early, get in a longer training session, then go to lab (and) do whatever I need to do for the day. After that, I’ll do a second training session and then go home and read or do data analysis.” 

Peterson will eventually graduate and be known as Dr. Peterson, and when she does, she’ll join Nicole Zaino as another top American Para Nordic skier with a PhD. Zaino earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington in 2023, the year after she tried sit skiing for the first time. 

Peterson and Zaino both qualified for Milano Cortina and will compete with the U.S. Paralympics Team representing Team USA in Italy next month. 

In addition, Reid Goble, who’s an able-bodied skier, has put off attending medical school for another year to continue serving as a guide for his friend, four-time Paralympic medalist Jake Adicoff, who’s visually impaired. 

Adicoff said Goble will likely accompany him to Italy to help him navigate the course during his races at the Winter Paralympics. Goble studied human biology at Michigan Tech and plans to someday become a physician. 

As a result, Team USA will have three current and future doctors competing for Paralympic medals in Nordic skiing this winter.  

“I’ve always been just naturally interested in math and science,” said Peterson, who was diagnosed as a teenager with dystonia, a disorder in which a person’s muscles contract involuntarily. “And then I think partially because of my rare disease and my neurological disorder, that partially fueled my interest into research into rare genetic disorders.” 

Peterson made her Winter Paralympic debut in Beijing after she received a special invitation from World Para Nordic Skiing and the International Paralympic Committee that allowed her to compete. She got the invitation only three weeks before the start of the Games and then earned three medals in cross-country skiing, including a gold as a member of the U.S. mixed relay team. 

The following year, Peterson graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience. She has worked over the past few years in a biochemistry lab, a biophysics lab and a genetics lab. 

Zaino, meanwhile, has balanced her busy training and racing schedule with her part-time job as a clinical research lead for LUCI, a company that makes smart technology for power wheelchairs. She directs LUCI’s clinical research, and in her role, she spends a lot of her time writing and analyzing data like Peterson. 

“It’s definitely important work, and I really like it and I am really motivated by the need for it,” Zaino said. “But also, I’ve known this company. I actually did research with them when I was in my PhD (program), and that’s how I met them. And so, I was very clear (about) my athletic goals when talking to them about working for them and through the whole interview process, and so they’ve been very supportive.” 

With her PhD in mechanical engineering, she naturally considers the ways that biomechanics help propel her across the snow in her sit ski and how her center of mass impacts her performance. 

“I don’t think most people talk about skiing in those ways, but that’s just how I think,” Zaino said. “And so that definitely helps, I think, bring a different perspective to how I approach skiing and my progression.” 

Training for the Winter Paralympics can take a physical and mental toll on an athlete. Trying to earn a PhD at the same time can be exhausting, but Peterson said she has a “fantastic mentor” who has been so supportive along the way. She has also been able to rely on the other members of the national team. 

“It’s really nice to go back into this Games with some more experience. At this time four years ago, the Paralympics weren’t even on my radar,” Peterson said. “But now knowing what they are, actually being classified, and I guess having teammates to be able to ask questions (to), it’s much more reassuring, and so hopefully that experience will translate over.” 

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordic.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.