Corey Peters, the defending champion in the Para alpine downhill sitting event, finished in 5th place at the Milano Cortina games overnight.
The Kiwi, who skied second, narrowly avoided a tumble early in his run, with the time spent recovering affecting his eventual time of 1:20:89.
That fifth-placed effort was more than four seconds slower than his gold medal winning exploits four years ago in Beijing.
Peters told 1News he was disappointed with himself.
"That performance, I'm not super proud of it, I know I've got more in me," he said.
"I was definitely swearing to myself inside because you know you've kind of made the mistakes, and it was kind of just trying to get the ski going again but by then, you've already lost momentum.'"
The downhill event was marred by crashes in soft and slushy conditions, with only 11 out of 23 competitors successfully completing the course.
Peters said it was a frustrating situation to be in, but acknowledged everyone faced the same obstacles.
"You work four years, you work pretty hard and then to turn up and get conditions like this where it's far from ideal, does make it a bit challenging," the sit-skier said.
Norway's Jasper Pedersen claimed the gold in a time of 1:18:14.
Dutch skier Niels de Langen was second with 1:19:24 while Canada's Kurt Oatway picked up the bronze.
Peters has two more events at these Winter Paralympics, the Men's Super-G and then the Giant Slalom alongside fellow New Zealander Adam Hall.
Watch live and free Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, streaming on five TVNZ+ channels and DUKE from Saturday March 7 to Monday March 16.
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