Great Britain's Austin Musgrave finished sixth in the men's cross-country 10km freestyle on Friday but made quite an impression by exercising his right to bare arms out on the course. Musgrave warmed up with his upper half sheathed like everyone else but when it became go-time, he relieved himself of the constrains presented by skin-tight layer, which allowed his pole-holding arms to swing easy and unencumbered.
The race-time temperature was around 15-degrees Celsius so it wasn't particularly uncomfortable out there. Still, anyone who has taken a tumble onto some exposed skin into snow knows that it hits entirely different.
We’ve got a sleeveless cross-country skier, surely making NFL offensive linemen proud pic.twitter.com/2bZmD5w78G
— Mitch Goldich 🐙 (@mitchgoldich) February 13, 2026
Here's video of his finish:
Top 10 at the #WinterOlympics: Subtle FLEX 💪 pic.twitter.com/Zv9QHqK6q6
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 13, 2026
Musgrave shared the mountain with Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who collected his record-tying eighth gold medal. Mathis Desloges of France won silver and Klaebo's Norweigan teammate, Einar Hedegart, took bronze. But none of them were as bold sartorially as the Brit.
Musgrave is an ironman in the sport as the Milan Cortina Games are the fifth of his decorated career.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cross-Country Skier Goes Sleeveless En Route to Sixth-Place Finish.
