Katie Pegg navigates challenges on road to LA 2028

OTTAWA – Katie Pegg established herself among the world’s top Para shot putters last year, winning bronze at the world championships just one year after making her Paralympic debut.

Now the challenge for Pegg as she continues her quest to compete at the 2028 LA Paralympics is to maintain herself among the best. What she’s discovering in 2026 is that is not such an easy task.

“It wasn’t the best, it wasn’t the worst,’’ said Pegg, who turned 22 on Friday, about her performance at the Canadian Track and Field Championships which concluded on Sunday in Ottawa.  ‘’Overall, I’m looking back now. It was a good performance.’’

Pegg, from Markham, Ont., opened her season last month by surpassing the 12-metre mark at a Grand Prix in Switzerland, a distance she also regularly reached at the world championships last year. Since then, she admits she has been battling the pressure to replicate those results.

‘’I’m just putting a lot of pressure on myself to repeat worlds,’’ she said with her trademark smile never fading. ‘’It’s a slow mental process but we’ll get there.’’

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Seventh in the F46 class at the Paris Games, Pegg credits much of her success to trusting in her coach’s plan and focusing on the mental side of competition. That approach has helped her continue developing in a Canadian Para throwing program that is rising on the international stage.

That challenge will be tested again in the coming weeks as Pegg heads back to Europe for a key international competition block along with a camp based in Stuttgart, Germany.

She is among eight Para athletes headed overseas for a European Tour, a two-week international camp and competition block designed to put Canada’s rising athletes right where they need to be: in the middle of the European season, under pressure, and surrounded by world-class competition.

The opportunity is especially important for Pegg as she builds towards the busier section of the Paralympic cycle.

‘’It’s a really good opportunity,’’ she said. ‘’I’m still fairly new to the sport, it’s nice to get more international experience and representing Canada which is always amazing.’’

Pegg, born without a radial bone in her right forearm, first threw shot put as a youngster, then dropped that ball for an eight-year career in football in which she was a defensive lineman. She was the only female athlete in the league, playing for the Scarborough Thunder high school team.

Now at St. Mary’s University in Halifax where she is close to graduating in biology and forensic sciences she returned to shot put to show the capabilities of people with disabilities.

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Pegg is distinctive in the competition as she competes wearing a prosthesis on her right arm which serves as a counterbalance while throwing. Because her arms are different lengths, the device brings balance and stability in the circle.

‘’It’s a nice little extension to my arm,’’ she said with a laugh. ‘’It allows me to be a lot more even when I’m throwing.’’

With each competition, Pegg continues to refine both her technique and confidence, aiming to turn last year’s breakthrough into sustained success on the road to Los Angeles.