Jake Adicoff, an out gay cross-country skier on Team USA, made Olympic history when he won the gold medal in the 1.5km sprint at the 2026 Paralympic Games in Italy on March 10, becoming the first out male Paralympic athlete from any country to win a gold as an individual.
Adicoff, who hails from Idaho, had the third-fastest qualifying time and subsequently secured the top spot in the semifinals at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Lago Italy, according to OutSports. Adicoff trailed the leader of the competition by 20 seconds, but sped up and ultimately won by a 1.5-second margin, taking home the gold.
Adicoff, who is visually impaired from when his mother had chicken pox when she was pregnant, found success yet again a day later, on Feb. 11, when he won another gold medal during the men’s 10km event. He went on to win nearly two minutes before second-place Inkki Inola of Finland crossed the finished line.
Adicoff previously won a gold medal as part of a team effort in the mixed relay in Beijing in 2022. But this is the first time he has won top honors on his own.
“Going to the Paralympics, being a gay athlete there, showing that it’s possible to reach this upper echelon of sport as an out athlete and as a para athlete, that’s super important to me,” Adicoff said in a previous interview with OutSports.
