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As climate warms, athletes flag the dangers of manmade snow

Many top Nordic skiers and biathletes say bad crashes are becoming more common as climate change reduces the availability of natural snow.

(Rick Bowmer, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A British skier crashes through wooden fencing on a downhill corner and slams into a pole, breaking his leg. An American hits an icy patch at the bottom of a hill and crashes into a fence, breaking one ski and twisting the other, also breaking his leg.

Another American, training before a biathlon race, slides out on an icy corner and flies off the trail into a tree, breaking ribs and a shoulder blade and punctures a lung.

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These were not scenes from high-speed Alpine or ski cross events. They happened on cross country ski and biathlon tracks made with artificial snow.

For more on this story, visit NBCNews.com.


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