Australia's cross-country athletes enjoyed the warmer conditions in the sprint event at the National Cross-Country Skiing Centre, although none of the six progressed to the quarterfinals.

In the women's race, Jess Yeaton came home in 52nd place, 23.82 seconds off the pace, while Casey Wright finished in 65th, a further 6.37 seconds back.

Only the top 30 qualified for the quarterfinals in a stacked international field.

"I felt good," Yeaton said.

"I probably would have hoped for a little bit of a better result but no huge complaints there."

Despite the sub-zero temperatures, conditions on the course today were a vast improvement on those from earlier in the week, which the Aussies said threw them slightly.

"I think we were just really lucky that the conditions have warmed up," Wright said.

"The wind has dropped down and the skiing's a lot quicker than it was a few days ago.

"The first week we were here was probably some of the most brutal skiing I've had for quite a while."

Yeaton went as far as saying the conditions today were "perfect", although anything would have been an improvement from earlier in the week, when the 30-year-old said her hands were so cold she could not take her skis off.

"It was almost like a shock coming out today compared to the other day."

Bellingham happy with result in 'super competitive' field

In the men's race, Phil Bellingham led the way for Australia, finishing a hugely credible 50th, just 16.54 seconds off the leader.

"I had a bit of a tough lead in to the Olympics," Bellingham said.

"I wasn't really skiing at my best, to now be here and skiing quite well today, just super happy and proud.

"There's just so much depth in cross-country skiing – today there were 90-or-so competitors, so for me to even be 50th is like a super good result for me and I guess it's just really hard to be in the medals in a sport like this because it's so hotly contested.

"The smallest of margins you can drop 10 places per second you are behind, it's super competitive."

All Australia's athletes said they were looking forward to the longer events, which are set to take place later in the week.

"I had a bit of a tough day on Sunday in the 30km and didn't feel very good, but I think that effort really kicked me into gear," Bellingham said.

"I'm more of a distance skier so I prefer the longer ones," Yeaton said.

The veteran of the team, 30-year-old Bellingham, who is competing at his third Games, said spending so much time with the younger members of the team – the entire squad has been based in Davos, Switzerland for the pre-Games camp – has helped keep him on his toes.

"It's great to have these young guys around, keep the motivation up, they're always super enthusiastic," Bellingham said.

"I guess as I might be starting to drop off a little bit they keep pushing me to keep trying to do my best and keep skiing as fast as I can because if I drop off at all, they're going to kick my butt."

All the other Aussies recorded impressive times too, with Lars Young Vik in 55th, Hugo Hinckfuss in 61st and Seve de Campo in 63rd.

"It was pretty tough, it's a brutal course," 21-year-old Vik said.

"I didn't feel super fresh, but it was alright."

There can be few more sports more brutal to its competitors than cross-country skiing – whether it's over 1.5km or 50km.

Even under "perfect" conditions such as tonight, with no wind and an air temperature of -6 degrees Celsius, almost every skier that came through the mix zone was coughing up great hacking coughs thanks to the impact of the cold, thin, dry air on their lungs.

"Sometimes it just takes a while to get all the oxygen back in," Hinckfuss said.

After crossing the line, skiers looked up to check their time, leaning heavily on their poles before topping unsteadily onto the snow.

This event might optimistically be called a sprint, but to win a skier needs to complete four separate races within a relatively small time frame, testing endurance as well as speed.