Cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Men's 50 kilometre freestyle
Cross-country skiing event at the 2022 Winter Olympics / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The men's 50 kilometre freestyle competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 19 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Taizicheng.[1] Alexander Bolshunov, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, won the event, and Ivan Yakimushkin, also of ROC, won silver, his first Olympic medal. Simen Hegstad Krüger of Norway won the bronze medal, competing in his first and only race at these Games after an illness. Bolshunov became only the second skier who won 30 km and 50 km at the same Olympics, after Russian Nikolay Zimyatov accomplished this in 1980.
Men's 50 kilometre freestyle at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center, Taizicheng | ||||||||||||
Date | 19 February | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 60 from 32 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 1:11:32.7 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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This event was delayed by an hour and shortened to 28.4 km (17.65 mi) due to high winds and freezing temperature.[2] Temperature was −9 °F (−23 °C) or −25 °F (−32 °C) with windchill, while wind gusts varied within 17-30 mph (27-48 km/h), according to the local weather.[3] Athletes complained that the weather conditions were too severe, but many also criticized the decision to shorten the race.[4] 28th place finisher, Finland’s Remi Lindholm, suffered a frozen penis as a result of the extreme conditions.[5] The decision means that the gap between "proper" Olympic men's 50 km freestyle races will be at least sixteen years from Sochi 2014 to the 2030 Olympics. It also caused the rare occurrence that the women's 30-kilometre race, held the following day, was the longest cross-country skiing race in the Beijing Olympics both in course length and duration, despite women's distance races usually being significantly shorter than men's.