BY HEATHER FOSTER AND KAREN BOSSICK
The gold keeps stacking up for Sun Valley’s Jake Adicoff.
Adicoff, who came up with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, and his guide Jake Brown have won two golds in the first World Cup competition of the 2024 season for the U.S. Paralympic Ski Team in Toblach, Italy. They won a gold in the Men’s Visually Impaired 10K Interval Start race on Wednesday and a second gold in the men’s Visually Impaired 10K Mass Start on Thursday.
Oksana Masters won gold medals in the 10K Interval Start and 10K Mass Start sit ski races. Kendall Gretsch won two silver women’s sit ski medals.
Dani Aravich, a Boisean who has trained at Ssun Valley has taken 6th and took 10th in women’s standing.
SVSEF Cross Country team athletes are lining up against the best in the country and the world right now. From high school-aged Comp Team athletes to post-grad XC Gold Team athletes, they are finding inspiration in training together and cheering each other on as they pursue both individual and team goals at every level.
“It’s such an exciting time for the SVSEF cross country program,” said Becky Flynn, SVSEF XC program director. “While our junior teams are training here at home and looking towards their next Junior National Qualifier at Soldier Hollow in Utah this weekend, they are able to cheer on other teammates who are competing across the globe at the International Junior and World Cup level.”
At the Coop FIS Cross Country World Cup in Oberhof, Germany, Peter Wolter raced to 55th in the Men’s 20km Mass Start Classic, just over three seconds back from Norway’s Erik Valnes and approximately four and a half minutes ahead of the last finisher for the men.
Wolter is competing at the FIS Cross Country World Cup in Goms, Switzerland, this weekend.
Sammy Smith is also racing in Goms this weekend. Fellow SVSEF XC Gold Teammate Bentley Walker-Broose will also join Wolter and Smith to race for his homeland Australia at the Goms World Cup.
“World Cup No. 3 is in the books and, oh boy, was it a bit of a shock to the system,” said Wolter. “You always know it’s a different ball game over here but it doesn’t truly materialize until, well, it does and you’re redlining up one of the steeper hills you’ve ever raced on for the sixth time with German fans yelling and smoking cigarettes on the sidelines. It’s awesome to be back on the circuit and I’m hungry for better results this weekend. Stay tuned.”
Molly Maybach finished 71st in her first biathlon race against 98 competitors at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea. “It was so fun - the whole atmosphere is super great and I love being here!” said Maybach. “I felt like I skied well but can work on my shooting for the next event.”
Heading to the east coast, SVSEF XC Gold Team athlete Mariah Bredal continued her presence on the SuperTour podium this season finishing in fourth place in the Lake Placid SuperTour Eastern Cup 10km Mass Start at Mt Van Hoevenberg. Bredal finished in 00:29:51.7, just two-tenths of a second back from third place and 21 seconds off of the first-place time of 00:29:30.2. The SuperTour awards prize money for the top six podium finishers in their races. In the 1.3km Freestyle Sprint, Bredal qualified into the heats and finished 21st overall. Bredal is competing in Craftsbury, Vt., this weekend before heading back to Sun Valley to get ready for the 51st annual Zions Bank Boulder Mountain Tour on Feb. 3. She finished fourth in last year’s BMT, just over one second out of first place.
Meanwhile, Wood River High School student and SVSEF Comp Team athlete Zach Quesnel is currently skiing as an exchange student with Sollefteå Ski Gymnasium in Sweden. Quesnel had the unique opportunity to race in the Nordic Nations Cup at Fallun, Sweden where he saw his best result in the 10km Classic Individual Start on Sunday placing 65th in the 17-18 age group. Unfortunately, the races were canceled the day before due to frigidly cold temperatures.
Up next for Quesnel, he’ll race with the Sollefteå Skidor team Feb 14-18 in Ulricehamn, Sweden.