Kris Freeman, who is one of the premier athletes in the world with Type 1 diabetes, has had a tough Olympics so far. The cross country skier, who was the best hope for the U.S. to win a medal in the discipline in decades, finished 59th in his first race last Monday and 45th in his second race on Saturday, according to a recent article published by ESPN.
“It was just all of a sudden lights out, all of a sudden my body wasn’t working,” Freeman told ESPN. “I thought that was going to be it. If the coach hadn’t come up and given me some sugar, I would have had to walk back to the finish line.”
While the first event, a 15k race, was his stronger event, he had a diabetic episode during Saturday’s 30k race that cost him two and a half minutes. Freeman, who was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 21, found himself sapped of energy and lying in the snow watching his competitors ski on by during his most recent race.
He was hanging on to the back of the lead pack of skiers when his sugar plummeted during the fourth lap. A German coach spotted him and alertly ran over and gave him a Gatorade and some energy gel. Despite feeling a bit shaky, and determined not to get a DNF (or Did Not Finish), he got up and finished the race. In fact, he moved up from 47th to 45th, finishing about 8 minutes behind the winner.
He has one more race left on the last day of the Olympics – the 50k.
Earlier in the Games, Freeman got off to a disappointing start, finishing in 59th place in the 15k classical race. He took a wrong turn down the homestretch, which didn’t cost him a medal, but did cause him to drop a number of slots. He said his blood sugar was not the cause of the wrong turn. Last year at the World Championships, he finished in fourth at the same event.
Freeman told Amy Tenderich of the blog Diabetes Mine in an interview that some funky conditions led to a reduction in the final testing time. That reduction only allowed him time to check his sugar and pump and didn’t allow him much time to test the skis and the course.
As for preparation, he says he typically increases his basal rate 20 minutes before the race to counteract sugar that is released due to increased nerves. He only takes a bolus if he is trending upwards before a race. He also likes to listen to calming music before races. Before the 30k race, it was Guns N’ Roses ballads and “The Cider House Rules” by John Irving, according to the ESPN article.
Unlike some athletes who run a little high during endurance events because he tries to avoid them because it will hurt him. He also had four coaches positioned on the course during the 15k race in the event of a low.
You can check out our earlier coverage by clicking on the links below.
Skier Kris Freeman Stumbles in First Olympic Event
Diabetic Olympian: ‘No Limits’
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I prefer to use the phrase “insulin reaction” or “low blood sugar.”
It is NOT an episode (since the connotation of the word is quite dramatic) and I feel it is unnecessary to fill the non-diabetic world or scare the diabetic world with more offensive terms than they already have.