December 15, 2022
2022 Rewind: Ouch! Frigid Cold Hits Olympic Skier Where It Hurts Most
READ TIME: 1 MIN.
EDGE is looking back at 2022 and we're resharing some of our favorite stories of the year.
Despite the men's skiing 50km mass start race at the Beijing Games being shortened to 30km due to extreme cold, it didn't help "Finland's Remi Lindholm, who needed a heat pack at the end of the race to thaw out a particularly sensitive body part," Reuters reported.
"Lindholm spent just under an hour and 16 minutes traversing the course in howling, freezing winds, leading to his penis becoming frozen for the second time in a cross-country skiing race following a similar incident in Ruka, Finland last year," Reuters said.
"You can guess which body part was a little bit frozen when I finished [the men's Olympic 50km race]...it was one of the worst competitions I've been in. It was just about battling through," Lindholm told Finnish media.
"With organisers worried about frostbite during Saturday's race, it was delayed by an hour and shortened by 20km. The thin suits and under-layers worn by racers, as well as plasters to cover their faces and ears, offered little protection," added Reuters.
Lindholm explained that he used a heat pack to try to thaw out his member after the race concluded.
"When the body parts started to warm up after the finish, the pain was unbearable," he added.
Lindholm finished in 28th place, while Russian Alexander Bolshunov won the race.
