Norway's Vilde Nilsen claimed her first Paralympic gold in the Classic Sprint Standing at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games. The United States secured multiple titles with Oksana Masters and Jake Adicoff victorious in their categories. Brazil's Cristian Westemaier Ribera made history as the first South American to win a Winter Paralympic medal.
At the Val di Fiemme venue during the Winter Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina, several standout performances marked the Cross-Country Sprint events. Vilde Nilsen (NOR) dominated the Classic Sprint Standing, powering ahead of her rivals to secure gold. Sydney Peterson (USA) earned silver, while Canada's Natalie Wilkie, the defending champion and quickest in qualification, took bronze.
"It’s an extremely good feeling," Nilsen said. "I’ve had a lot of pressure on my shoulders for the last four years because I really wanted to redeem myself after Beijing and do well here. I was not sure if I was able to win gold after the prologue because there were so many strong athletes, but I really had some good help from my team today with good skis. I’m so happy to finally win gold."
In the Sprint Sitting category, Oksana Masters (USA) retained her title, overtaking Yunji Kim (KOR) on the final climb for gold. Shiyu Wang (CHN) claimed bronze, marking Masters' second gold in the Games after her Para Biathlon Sprint victory on Saturday. Masters now has 11 golds across Summer and Winter Paralympics from 21 total medals.
"It feels unreal," Masters said. "Little Oksana would never have dreamed that. I’m just shocked and so happy."
Zixu Liu (CHN) won the Men's Sprint Sitting, finishing strongly to edge out Cristian Westemaier Ribera (BRA) for gold and retain his Beijing title. Yerbol Khamitov (KAZ) placed third. Ribera's silver made him the first South American athlete to medal at the Winter Paralympics.
"It’s very special," Ribera said. "All of Brazil was watching. I’m very proud of my team. My brother is my coach, my sister was an Olympian two weeks ago. It was the first race and I was a little nervous in the qualies but, after I was first, I did my routine and it was all good."
Jake Adicoff (USA), guided by Peter Wolter, won gold in the Men's Vision Impaired event, improving on his Beijing result by holding off Shuang Yu (CHN) at the finish. Zebastian Modin (SWE) took bronze.
Anastasiia Bagiian (RUS), guided by Sergei Siniakin, won the Women's Vision Impaired category on her Paralympic debut, finishing well ahead of Linn Kazmaier (GER), who was guided by Florian Baumann. Jihong Cong (CHN), guided by Jiaxuan Liu, earned bronze.
Kazmaier said, "I’m so so happy. It was a really nice race today and so fun skiing. I just want to show how nice skiing is and have fun."
Raman Svirydzenka (BLR) claimed gold in the Men's Standing, fending off Sebastian Marburger (GER) for the win, with Benjamin Daviet (FRA) in third. The athletes are scheduled to compete next in the 10km Interval Start Classic on Wednesday.
