A Finnish skier competing in a cross-country event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics finished in 28th place after suffering perhaps the strangest malady of this year’s Winter Games: A frozen penis.
Reuters reports that Remi Lindholm, a Metallica-loving skier on Team Finland, began suffering frostbite on his third pole during the 50km mass start race event Sunday; the event itself was conducted under such brutal, frigid conditions that the race was first delayed by an hour and then shortened to 30 kilometers instead of 50 to protect the competitors, who wore a thin layer.
“You can guess which body part was a little bit frozen when I finished,” Lindholm told the Finnish media. “It was one of the worst competitions I’ve been in. It was just about battling through.”
Despite the frozen appendage, Lindholm still managed to place in the middle of the field in the 60-skier event, falling roughly four minutes short of the medal winners but 16 minutes ahead of the back of the pack.
Reuters notes that, somehow, this isn’t the first time Lindholm’s penis has froze mid-race, as a similar incident happened during a cross-country skiing event in Finland in 2021.
Immediately after the race, Lindholm sought relief in the form of a waiting heat pack. “When the body parts started to warm up after the finish, the pain was unbearable,” the skier added. Thankfully, Lindholm’s injury did not prevent him from enjoying his nation’s surprise gold medal in the Men’s Hockey event as well as Sunday’s closing ceremony.
