Olympian Suffers Frozen Penis During Ski Race, Uses Heat Pack To Thaw Privates

A Finnish athlete went through "unbearable pain" after he suffered a frozen penis during a cross-country skiing race at the Beijing Winter Games over the weekend.

Remi Lindholm, 24, had to use a heat pack at the end of Saturday's 30-kilometer (18.6 miles) mass start free event to thaw out his frozen appendage, Reuters reported. The event was originally a 50-kilometer (31 miles) race.

The Finnish skier, who placed 28th in the race, spent just under an hour and 16 minutes traversing the Zhangjiakou, China, course in howling and freezing winds, according to the outlet.

"You can probably guess what was on the ice when I got to the finish line," Lindholm told Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.

The Olympian suffered the same injury in November 2021 at the Ruka World Cup in Finland.

However, Lindholm claimed that his recent experience was worse and that it had caused "pretty unbearable pain," according to The Sun.

The Finnish athlete has since criticized the conditions of Saturday's race, which was delayed for an hour and shortened by 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) due to strong winds on the course.

"[I]t was one of the worst competitions I've been in. It was just about battling through," Lindholm was quoted as saying.

The thin suits and underlayers worn by racers, as well as the plasters that covered their faces and ears, reportedly offered little protection.

British cross-country skier Andrew Musgrave, who placed 12th in the event, also criticized the race and called it "a f-----g joke."

He believed that shortening the race was "a ridiculous decision" as he claimed it would not "make it any warmer or less windy."

"If it’s warm enough to race, then I don’t see why doing an hour and a quarter or [30 kilometers], compared to two hours in the [50 kilometers], makes it any better. It’s still the same temperature, it’s still the same wind," Musgrave said.

"I couldn’t really do anything about that and just had to go out and make the best of it. I’m a little bit annoyed. 50 kilometers is meant to be the ultimate endurance race, and I felt like it wasn’t quite the same," he added.

The Russian Olympic Committee’s Alexander Bolshunov and Ivan Yakimushkin won gold and silver, respectively, at Saturday's mass start free event. Bronze, meanwhile, went to Simen Hegstad Krueger from Norway.