Milano Cortina 2026: China and USA victorious in Para cross-country relay

The second to last day at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium saw the top teams on display and great action in the mixed 4x2.5km and open 4x2.5km relay events at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, which sees Para athletes in the standing, sitting and vision-impaired classifications compete together. 

USA retain their title in the mixed 

Starting the day with the mixed event, USA was the nation to beat featuring an all-star team of athletes. Beijing 2022 gold medallists Oksana Masters, Jake Adicoff and Sydney Peterson hoped to retain their title alongside Joshua Sweeney, who was a Para ice hockey gold medallist at Sochi 2014.

Team USA took the gold with a time of 23:24.2, ahead of Ukraine and the People’s Republic of China in what was a highly competitive race.

Sweeney was competing in the Paralympic mixed relay team for the first time and took the first 2.5km to open the race for the USA.  He said he just wanted to get his team off to a good start.

“It was awesome. I love mass starts to begin with. Being able to come out here and have a legitimate mass start with the strongest men sitting in the field, it was so much fun and I loved it,” Sweeney told the IPC.

Sweeney was able to stay calm by focusing on the field around him to earn his first Paralympic medal in his new discipline.

“I wasn't even thinking about defending their medal, I was more thinking I just want to beat these guys right out of the gate and really just set the rest of the athletes up for success...I knew for a fact if I let them get in front, then that's just going to keep that lead expanding and I definitely didn't want to put them behind,” he said.

“But really it was just a little bit of machismo that I just wanted to beat them." 

His compatriot Jake Adicoff took the final leg of the relay and had to come from behind to overtake Ukraine, crossing the line with just 12.5 seconds separating gold and silver. 

“We knew that we were going to be in a bit of a time deficit, but that's how this relay is set up. So, it was part of the plan. It's still incredibly stressful, but stress is reduced by watching some teammates really rip it out there,” Adicoff shared. 

For Ukraine, the silver medal was also a moment of pride.

“We did very well and I’m very proud of our team. It’s a great result and I’m very happy,” said Liudmyla Liashenko who took the final lap for Ukraine against Adicoff.

“The American team is very strong and we knew that. We knew that they (USA) were behind, but Jake Adicoff in their last leg, is very strong and very fast,” said Liashenko. 

Chasing their dreams

Adicoff now has three golds in three Para cross-country events so far, with the 20km interval start remaining on 15 March.

As he crossed the finish line, teammate Oksana Masters hugged him to begin an enthusiastic victory celebration. Adicoff laughed about what happened: "It was initially a hug, and then she kind of put all her weight into it, and then all of a sudden I was on the ground.” 

For Masters, supporting Adicoff’s dreams in Milano Cortina was just as important as trying to help the team retain the Beijing gold medal. 

“I’m a very passionate, aggressive person,” Masters said of the tackle. “I’m so happy for Jake, he’s chasing that clean sweep in cross-country and so to be able to do my part for him just felt so good that he is on his way to achieving his dreams.” 

For Masters, the gold also represented her fourth gold medal at Milano Cortina 2026, making it the most successful single Paralympic Games, winter or summer, of her career. 

“It feels so unreal. Four times just feels like a fake number right now. For it to be gold is just a dream,” she said. 

“I did not expect that at this Games at all, but there's something in Italy and the air and the coffee, the pizza, that is treating me well." 

Germany chasing China in the uphill 

The People’s Republic of China won gold in the open 4x2.5km relay, for its second medal of the day, ahead of Germany in silver and Norway which took bronze. The close competition had the crowd on their feet and shouting throughout. It came down to the final lap to see which nation would come out on top. 

Chenyang Wang shared that it was all part of the strategy to choose the right athlete for each leg of the relay, saying: “We decided the order of the relay and did our best in each leg. Combining it together, we won the gold medal. We even performed better than we expected.” 

Germany had the lead going into the final exchange, with Linn Kazmaier handing over to Marco Maier. As they tackled the uphill climb, Shuang Yu and his guide Jincai Shang overtook Maier and maintained the lead from that point on to finish 5.4 seconds ahead to win gold. 

Shuang Yu felt he was set up well for the final leg. “My teammates gave me some time, so I didn’t need too much effort to catch up with the leading team, Yu said of the final race with Maier. "I did my best and caught up with him to win the gold medal.” 

For Maier, the silver was a victory, despite the tight finish. 

“Oh, I'm very happy that we won silver. But yeah, I'm (feeling) bad that the Chinese are so good on the uphill. But that's the game,” he said. 

Despite it being a colder day in Val di Fiemme, Maier wore his now infamous shorts, saying: “Today was a fashion statement. They’re my lucky shorts; I needed to race with them.” 

The third and fourth positions were just as close, with Norway gaining bronze only 0.2 seconds ahead of Ukraine. Norway’s Thomas Oxaal was only centimetres ahead of Ukraine’s Serafym Drahun as he crossed the finish line, causing some concern from his teammates watching. 

“You kind of feel you have control in the last 20 metres, but of course you underestimate the speed into the sprint finish - at least when you stand up and take it a little bit easy,” Oxaal said of the close finish. 

“When these great teammates do their job, they shouldn't have to watch me almost **** it up in a very unnecessary way,” he said in language not meant for children. “But you can take it with a few centimetres and it's still a medal so then it's OK, it's a happy ending.”

Where to watch and listen to the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games