Biathlete Loses Her Ski Pole, Gets Snow Stuck In Her Gun In Nightmare Olympic Race

Germany got off to a nightmare start in the final women's biathlon event of the Olympics

Skiing the first leg of the 4x6km relay race, Franziska Preuss crashed, lost a pole, got snow stuck in the sight of her gun, and finished more than full minute off the pace.

TV cameras didn't catch the crash, but the CBC commentator reported that she fell on one of the course's early downhill slopes.

She lost a ski pole (notice the empty left hand):

NBCOlympics

When she got to the shooting range, she had to blow the snow out of her gun (via CBC):

CBC

Everyone was done shooting by the time she got the snow out of there:

NBCOlympics

She got an extra pole from a coach, but the damage was done:

CBC