Winter Olympics skier suffered ‘insufferable ache’ when penis froze – for the second time

Cross-country skier Remi Lindholm was not the envy of anyone at the last Winter Olympics, where he admitted his penis froze during a race

Olympic skier Remi Lindholm once shed light on the “unbearable” pain he was forced to endure after suffering from a frozen penis for the second time.

The Finnish athlete represented his country at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, competing in the Men’s 50km Cross-Country Skiing event in Beijing. However, the race was cut short to just 30km thanks to the severe winds, which had an adverse effect on the 28-year-old.

Russian star Alexander Bolshunov ended up winning the event, while Lindholm finished down in 28th. Yet, he could be forgiven by his nation’s Olympic Committee, given he revealed afterwards that his penis had frozen mid-race, as initially claimed by Finnish outlet IL.

In what is known to be one of the most physically demanding winter events, top skiers can burn in excess of 1,000 calories in an hour, according to research. On top of spending almost one hour and 16 minutes on the course in ice-cold temperatures of -17C, Lindholm had to deal with another big issue.

He shed light on reports on the state of his appendage post-race, saying: “You can probably guess what was on the ice when I got to the finish line. It was one of the worst competitions I’ve been in. It was just about battling through. When the body parts started to warm up after the finish, the pain was unbearable.”

Lindholm was handed a heat bag to apply to his penis in an effort to thaw it out. Remarkably, it wasn’t the first time his nether regions had been affected by the elements.

He endured the same relentless pain in his homeland during the Ruka World Cup a year prior. But the Finn admitted: “It was [worse this time]. Pretty unbearable pain.”

A frozen penis on the slopes isn’t unheard of, with Calle Halfvarsson suffering the same issue as Lindholm during the 20km World Cup event in Ruka. The Swede was even left concerned about his chances of having children if he endured it again.

“I have frozen my penis,” he admitted to Swedish publication Expressen. “For real. Damn, I had to lie in there [warm-up tent] for 10 minutes to warm it up. It hurts so damn much. It’s terrible. It’s lucky that I’m going to have my second child because this is going to be difficult in the future if I’m going to continue like this.”

Less than a year on from his mishap, Lindholm bounced back from the painful ordeal by securing gold in the 15km freestyle skiing championship in Tampere, topping a field of 169 skiers in the intermediate start event. He also finished second in the Finlandia Ski Marathon in early 2025.

Lindholm is still braving the elements and has competed in both World Cup events and Scandinavian Cup races in recent times. Yet, despite his ambitions of representing his country at the 2026 Games in Italy, he has not been selected by Team Finland to compete this time around – and his penis will be thanking him for it.