MILAN — Jake Adicoff, a resident of Sun Valley, Idaho, is competing in the upcoming Paralympics with Petoskey native Reid Goble, who is serving as one of his guides.
Throughout his career, Jake has secured one gold medal and three silver medals. For the upcoming games in Italy, he is working with a team that includes Goble and Peter Walter, another guide from Sun Valley, who will share the guiding responsibilities.
Goble brings a background in competitive skiing to the partnership, having raced throughout his childhood and in college at Michigan Tech before turning professional.
Goble finished last season as the sixth-ranked racer on the domestic circuit. He previously competed against Jake in races before the two became teammates. The pair is now focused on achieving a clean sweep of medals during this Paralympic cycle.
As a visually impaired athlete, Adicoff competes in the B3 classification, which is the category for the least visually impaired participants. In this class, athletes race at 100% of their time, meaning a 10-minute finish is recorded as exactly 10 minutes. Goebel noted that athletes in the B1 class are fully blind and receive a factored time of 88% of their actual racing time, while B2 athletes receive a 98% time factor.
The guide’s role is to stay in front of the athlete to push the pace. Goble said the job requires him to “hammer” and go as hard as possible to ensure Jake moves faster than he would alone. “Your results are basically based on how hard you can go,” Goble said. “And there’s something a little freeing about that. It’s like solely on you, you know, you get to push your body, and if you push it hard enough, you can win.”
To help cover the expenses of traveling to Italy for the competition, Goble is currently seeking community support. He is organizing a raffle to help fund the necessary travel and competition costs. To find the raffle, click here.
The Paralympic opening ceremonies are scheduled to begin this Friday.