The conditions for the men’s 50km mass start race at the Winter Olympics were far from kind. Because of extreme winds and cold, the race on Saturday was delayed by an hour and shortened to 30km to protect the participants.
The new conditions for the cross-country skiing race were of little solace to Finland’s Remi Lindholm. He was able to finish the race in about one hour and 16 minutes, but the thin layers of clothing he wore didn’t protect him much from the winds.
MORE: Mikaela Shiffrin doesn’t medal but gets “favorite memory” at Olympics
As a result, the 24-year-old was frozen in a rather … uncomfortable area during the race. Yes, Lindholm said he suffered a frozen penis.
“You can guess which body part was a little bit frozen when I finished,” Lindholm told Finnish media, per Yahoo Sports. “It was one of the worst competitions I’ve been in. It was just about battling through.”
MORE: Final medal count for Team USA at Beijing Olympics
Because of his unusual injury, Lindholm had to lie down with a heating pack on his genitals after the race to warm up. As he thawed, he realized he was in a lot of pain.
“When the body parts started to warm up after the finish, the pain was unbearable,” Lindholm said.
MORE: Finland wins gold in men’s hockey for first time
Incredibly, this isn’t the only time that this has happened to Lindholm. The Finnish skier suffered the same fate during a race in his native country last year.
As such, Lindholm might want to adjust his cold-weather preparation to better protect himself from frostbite in sensitive areas. After all, the thin clothing he wore didn’t help him all too much during the Olympics. He finished 28th out of the 61-man field.