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BY KAREN BOSSICK Jake Adicoff has achieved the first of his objectives at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan Cortina. The 30-year-old visually impaired Sun Valley Nordic racer won a gold medal in para cross-country skiing men’s visually impaired sprint on Tuesday with Sun Valley’s Peter Wolter leading the way as his guide. It is his fifth Paralympic medal but only his first individual gold medal.
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Thirty supporters waved Jake Faces and Peter Mugs as the two Sun Valley Nordic racers raced to gold Tuesday.
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He won gold in a team relay at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China. He also won silver medals in the 1 km freestyle sprint and the 20 km classic and finsihed 6th in the 12.5 km freestyle in Beijing and silver in the 10km at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. This is his fourth Paralympics having made his debut at the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. “So good,” Adicoff replied when a NBC TV reporter asked how he felt. “I wanted it eight years ago in PyeongChang and missed it there. I wanted it in Beijing and missed it there. To finally get it is a milestone.” Adicoff and Wolter fought through the qualifier and semi-finals to get to the finals with racers representing China, Sweden and Norway.
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Jake Adicoff’s parents Sam Adicoff and Sue Conner mugged with a Jake Face at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy.
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Racing at the same Val di Fiemme venue used by Winter Olympians two weeks earlier, Adicoff and Wolter pulled away from Yu Shuang of China near the top of a 70-foot climb midway through the race. “I remember yelling , ‘We need to go harder,’ ” Adicoff told NBC Sports. But he admitted not remembering much else: “Sometimes it’s about turning your brain off.” Adicoff and Wolter topped the hill, then swung around a curve leading into the downhill at a fast pace as Wolter looked behind to make sure Adicoff was on his tail. Another short uphill, then they put their shoulder muscles to work, the backs of their skis rising in the air as they double poled into the finish area. Just before the finish line, Wolter stepped to the side to allow Adicoff to cross the finish line two or three body lengths ahead of the China’s Yu Shuang.
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They look pretty good without Jake in the picture, too!
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The Sun Valley skiers finished the course in 2 minutes 44.7 seconds to Shuang’s 2:46.2 and Sweden’s Zebastian Modin’s 2:50.9. Wolter, who like Adicoff grew up racing for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation before competing in some World Cup races, called the win “super cool.” “We had a few mistakes in the qualifier, but we cleaned those up through the semi-finals and finals. The gold medal is the cherry on the top,” said Wolter. A crowd of about 30 people sat in the grandstands waving American flags and large posters of Jake and Peter’s faces as they cheered Adicoff and Wolter on.
“So, so exciting!” said Jake’s father Sam Adicoff. Upon climbing onto the podium in their bright red uniform shoes, Adicoff waved at the crowd and shook Wolter’s hand before officials draped medals boasing six rams of gold and 500 grams of silver around their white jackets. They also handed each athlete a tiny plush weasel-like creature named Milo, who was born with one paw and uses his tail to maneuver, and a snowdrop flower that kind of looks like a masked granny. Then Adicoff put his hand over his heart as watched the American flag, flapping in the breeze, raised for the first time for his achievement.
It was a big day for Team USA’s Nordic team as Oksana Masters, who already had a gold in biathlon, won a gold medal in para Nordic sit skiing. Sydney Peterson won silver in her Nordic standing race. The quest for gold for the U.S. Nordic team continues today with distance races. Adicoff, who has five World Championships, said he wants to bring four golds home with him from these Games. The 2026 Winter Paralympics continue through Sunday, March 15.
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