Cross Country Skiing

Frost-Beard: Heavy Winds Leave Cross Country Skiers with Facial Hair Freeze

Men's 50km mass start event was shortened to 30km due to high winds

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

Cross country skiers competing for gold in the men's 50km mass start didn't have the comfort of postponing the final race in Beijing like their alpine skiing counterparts on Saturday.

The 50km mass start went ahead — not as planned though, heavy winds gusting up to 40mph delayed the race by an hour and event organizers sliced its original distance from 50km to 30km.

American Scott Patterson finished in eighth while the ROC's Alexander Bolshunov won gold -- his fifth medal of the Olympics -- in the shortened race.

Here's a look at some of the damage the winds did to racers faces:

From left: Florian Notz of Team Germany, Jonas Dobler of Team Germany and Lucas Boegl of Team Germany seen during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. The event distance has been shortened to 30k due to weather conditions.
Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
From left: Florian Notz of Team Germany, Jonas Dobler of Team Germany and Lucas Boegl of Team Germany seen during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. The event distance was shortened to 30k due to weather conditions.
Clement Parisse of Team France in action during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. The event distance has been shortened to 30k due to weather conditions.
Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom/Getty Images
Clement Parisse of Team France in action during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Poland's Dominik Bury competes in the men's 50km mass start free event on Feb. 19, 2022 at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The event was shortened to 30km due to high winds.
Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images
Poland's Dominik Bury competes in the men's 50km mass start free event.
Adrien Backscheider of Team France in action during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. The event distance has been shortened to 30k due to weather conditions.
Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom/Getty Images
Adrien Backscheider of Team France in action during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Jules Lapierre of Team France competes during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free on Day 15 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at The National Cross-Country Skiing Centre on February 19, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China. The event distance has been shortened to 30k due to weather conditions.
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Jules Lapierre of Team France competes during the Men's Cross-Country Skiing 50km Mass Start Free on Day 15 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

A weather bulletin two hours before the race had temperates at 3 degrees Fahrenheit. The report said winds were gusting at 30 mph and the wind chill was -21 degrees.

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