Adicoff and guide, Sam Wood, bring home two gold, two silver for Team USA!

SVSEF XC Gold Team athlete, Jake Adicoff, along with his guide in the Visually Impaired division, Sam Wood, are bringing home a pair of gold and silver from the 2023 Para Nordic World Championships, held Jan. 22-29 in Ostersund, Sweden. Adicoff and Wood medaled in all four events they competed in. They compete in the Para Nordic Men’s Visually Impaired category.

“Jake and Sam put together a fantastic week of racing in Ostersund,” said Chris Mallory, SVSEF XC Gold Team Head Coach. “They work as well as any guide/athlete pairing out there. Very fun last day of competition in the relay where they had the opportunity to hunt down a few nations in the final leg to bring home Gold. Such a unique event where you can pair up sit skiers, standing and visually impaired. Just an inspiring group of athletes with US Para Nordic, and hard working staff.”

Following the team’s first silver medal of the World Championships in the Men’s Visually Impaired 18 km Individual Classic event, U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing shared on their Instagram, “the dynamic duo is back!” 

In 2022, Adicoff and Wood racked up gold, silver, and bronze at the Para Nordic World Championships in Lillehammer, Norway, and went on to the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, where they brought home a gold and two silver medals for Team USA.

Adicoff and Wood followed up their silver in Ostersund, with their first gold medal of the Championships in the Cross-Country Sprint event—subsequently being dubbed “Sprint Royalty” by U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing. They added another silver to their medal count in the 10km Cross Country event, and then rounded out their World Championships bringing home gold for Team USA in the Mixed Relay 4 x 2.5km on the final day of competition.

“It was an awesome day,” said Sam Wood, following Team USA’s win in the Mixed Relay. “We had to put the pedal down from the start to have any chance of making up the distance to first place. It made it both a really hard and exciting race. Crossing the finish line was definitely a huge sigh of relief! The team all skied amazing legs and really set Jake up for success. So fun to win medals with this amazing group of people!”

For more information and complete results, please visit https://www.fis-ski.com/en/para-snowsports/para-nordic 

Photos: Ralf Kuckuck