When you interview an athlete with tape over their face to stop their skin from becoming frozen, you know you're looking at someone who is pretty hardcore.

And not just one person. Australian skiers Phil Bellingham and Seve de Campo had just competed in the marathon of the Winter Olympic Games, the 50-kilometre free.

Cross-country skiing is the most gruelling event at the Winter Olympics.

Competitors need a VO2 max comparable to a grand tour cyclist while battling through inhospitable conditions that few would even dare to venture outside in, let alone slap on a pair of skis and race in.

Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint – the Australians did not have to race a full 50km in the marquee event of the cross-country program.

Tough conditions — featuring freezing winds that made the bitingly cold temperatures of -17 degrees Celsius feel much colder — meant the distance was shortened from 50km to 28km and delayed by an hour.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) said the decision was made for safety reasons "to reduce the time of exposure of athletes in extreme conditions".

Not everyone was pleased though.

British skier Andrew Musgrave described the decision to shorten the course "because it's a bit cold and windy" as a "joke" in a Twitter post.

Loading

However, earlier in the Games, there had been complaints about the violently cold conditions athletes were being forced to race in.

Under FIS rules, competitions are stopped from taking place when temperatures are below -20 degrees Celsius, something that has been dangerously close to happening regularly in the Zhangjiakou region during these Olympics.

If you have never been in those sorts of temperatures before, that is the point that your eyelashes start to freeze and taking your gloves off — even for a moment — results in almost burning pain on your exposed skin.

Even your breath freezes, leaving a cartoon-like frosty crust around hats, scarves and masks.

And that is just for those watching.

We are not the ones having to push ourselves to the point of exhaustion, suck huge breaths of freezing air into our lungs while climbing up hills or fold ourselves into a tuck.

Sweden coach Anders Byström called out organisers for ignoring wind chill in its calculations after the frigid conditions "destroyed" Frida Karlsson, who was seen shaking uncontrollably after the 15km skiathlon earlier in the Games.

"We have the cold limits, but I do not know if they also measure the wind effect," Bystroem told Reuters.

"If FIS says it's -17 degrees and it's windy, and it's -35 degrees with the wind chill, what do you do then?"

The decision taken on Saturday at least was to shorten the event, albeit with only a couple of hours warning.

"Initially I was a little bit disappointed," Bellingham said of the decision to shorten the race.

"It's a pretty prestigious event, the 50km, so to not be allowed to race it in its full distance, it was a little bit disappointing.

It was. Although lacking the dramatic collapses post-crossing the line that some events in the cross-country program gives us, the athletes were no less exhausted after their endeavours.

"It was super tough," 30-year-old Bellingham reiterated after 1 hour, 23 minutes and 3 seconds of lung-busting effort that earned him a 53rd-place finish.

"We knew it was going to be. With the snow being so cold and abrasive it just meant the race latest a lot longer than it would usually.

"Everything was adding to it today: the wind, the cold, it was just a super tough day."

Fellow Australian Seve de Campo — who finished two places ahead of Bellingham with a time of 1:21:02 — said he was prepared for anything.

"They could have lengthened it," said the 23-year-old, drawing laughter from both him and Bellingham.

"At the end of the day shortening it to 30 was fine. I would have liked to say I did an Olympic 50k in brutal conditions but something for next time, I guess."

Incredibly, both men said that in terms of wind conditions, Perisher was probably worse, although they acknowledged that it never got quite as cold in the New South Wales highlands.

Alexander Bolshunov claimed gold for the Russian Olympic Committee.

Bolshunov outsprinted compatriot Ivan Yakimushkin and Norwegian Simen Hegstad Kruger, who only recently left isolation after a positive COVID-19 test and as a result, was racing for the first time in the Olympics.

Bolshunov — who sprinted away from the lead group of three in the closing stages — said he would have preferred to race over 50km.

"In the morning the weather was harder," he said.

"The wind was stronger and the temperature was colder. When we started the race, the weather got a bit better and I think today we could have skied 50km.

"Overall I can say that when the conditions are harder, this is in my favour because when it is harder, it is easier for me."

Silver medallist Yakimushkin said it was "truly hard, but that made the race more interesting".

Even Musgrave made peace with the call after the finish. Almost.

"I was hoping it was going to be a 50km, not a random 28km race, but I can't do anything about that now," he said.