Adicoff and Wang complete Finsterau World Cup doubles
Jan 15, 2026·Para Cross-Country)
Jake Adicoff (USA) and Chenyang Wang (CHN) claimed double triumphs on the second stop of the 2026 FIS Para Cross-Country World Cup in Finsterau (GER).
On Thursday (January 15), Adicoff won the 10km Mass Start Vision Impaired (VI) to add to his 10km Interval Start triumph the previous day. That took his World Cup win tally to 15 after he claimed two gold and two silver medals at last year’s World Championships.
The 30-year-old missed last month’s season-opener in Canmore (CAN), but showed his dominance on both days in Germany. In the Interval Start, he was a minute and a half clear of Shuang Yu (CHN) with Oleksandr Kazik (UKR) a similar margin back in third.
It was a similar story in the Mass Start with Adicoff taking victory from Yu by 27 seconds. Canmore Mass Start winner Zebastian Modin (SWE) was 28 seconds further back in third and remains atop the World Cup standings.
Wang was the only other athlete to win twice in Finsterau in the Standing Men category. The Interval Start world champion from Toblach (ITA) last year dominated that event on Wednesday, winning by 50 seconds from Karl Tabouret (FRA) with Lingxin Huang (CHN) just nine seconds further back.
The 12.5km gold medallist from Beijing 2022 looked on course for a similarly emphatic win in the Mass Start, but Raman Svirydzenka (BLR) finished strongly and almost caught the 24-year-old Chinese on the clock.
Svirydzenka was fourth in the Interval Start on his World Cup debut, and finished just under four seconds behind for his first podium finish. Four-time World Cup champion Vladislav Lekomtsev (RUS) was third as athletes from Belarus and Russia made their return to World Cup action.
Home favourite Sebastian Marburger started Wednesday with the overall leader’s red bib, but he was overtaken by Taiki Kawayoke (JPN) in what could be the most competitive category in Para Cross-Country right now.
Bagiian bags first victory as Westemaier takes thriller
Russia did make the top step of the podium as Anastasiia Bagiian scored her first World Cup victory in Thursday’s VI Mass Start. The 24-year-old, who had three previous podium finishes to her name, won thanks to a dominant performance.
While her cause was helped by the absence of Interval Start victor Simona Bubenickova (CZE), Bagiian was much the best after placing sixth on Wednesday. She won by a minute and 21 seconds from Yue Wang (CHN) who matched her Interval Start second. Johanna Recktenwald took third to deny German teammate Leonie Walter consecutive podium finishes.
Cristian Westemaier (BRA) prevailed in a thrilling Sitting Men 10km Mass Start on Thursday for his first win of the season. The reigning World Cup champion missed the opener in Canmore, and was only fourth in Wednesday’s Interval Start.
Westemaier was pushed all the way by Zhongwu Mao (CHN) who had finished third in the Interval Start. The pair were almost alongside each other at midway before the Brazilian capitalized on a slip from his rival. He led by close to eight seconds with 2.5km to go and, despite a late surge from Mao, crossed the line just in front for his first win of the season.
A further nine seconds back in third was Ivan Golubkov (RUS) who had taken second in the Interval Start. Wednesday’s winner Peng Zheng (CHN) was off the podium this time in fourth. Fifth place went to Giuseppe Romele (ITA) who leads the overall standings thanks to his three wins out of three in Canmore.
Having admitted to not being at “peak performance”, Westemaier was delighted to earn his first win of the campaign. “I felt good yesterday, but today I was way more confident,” he said. “I tried to stay with the Chinese the first two laps, and then he slipped on the uphill and I gained the advantage. And in the final meters I was first... I’m very proud of our team and me too.”
He will hope for further success in this weekend’s Sprint and Open and Mixed Relays. “The plan is to make the best results I can,” he said. “I hope it’s first place but it’ll be a fun race. The Russians are back so they elevate the level of competition a lot. It’s a long time since we have had 44 sit skiers so I’m very excited for that.”
Masters wins again, Peterson and Zhou break World Cup ducks
Sitting ski star Oksana Masters missed the 2025 season through illness but bounced back with a second and two wins in Canmore. The 36-year-old extended her winning streak to three in Thursday’s Interval Start with perennial rival Anja Wicker (GER) 23 seconds behind. Yunji Kim (KOR) rounded out the podium in third.
Afterwards, Masters said she was surprised at how successful her return to competition had been as she bids to add to her three Paralympic Cross-Country golds at Milano Cortina in March. “I’m still trying to find my trust and confidence in myself of knowing how to push the limits and pacing,” she admitted. “I don’t feel 100% back yet but this is a great start. If this is where I’m at right now, I’m feeling pretty good.”
Masters said she might struggle to pick her way past her rivals in Thursday’s Mass Start as one of the later starters on a “narrow” course. In the end, she had to settle for second behind Kim who passed Wicker early on before staying clear. The Korean’s winning margin was 33 seconds with Wicker getting the better of Aline dos Santos (BRA) for third.
Sydney Peterson (USA) credited her training regime after claiming a long overdue first World Cup win in Wednesday’s Standing Women Interval Start. “I’ve been racing on the circuit for four years now, and I’ve been second and third a lot,” she said. “So to finally win is pretty exciting.”
Having missed the season-opener, the 23-year-old was 50 seconds clear of Zhiqing Zhao (CHN) with Vilde Nilsen (NOR) - who won all three races in Canmore - almost two minutes further back in third. Five-time World Cup champion Nilsen has been recovering from illness.
In Thursday’s Mass Start, Zhao turned the tables on Peterson to record her first World Cup win. Nilsen again filled the final spot on the podium to maintain a sizeable advantage in the overall standings.
On Saturday, the athletes take part in the Sprint with Sunday seeing both the 4x2.5km Open Relay and the 4x2.5km Mixed Relay.
