In 1996, Nike decided on a sports experiment / PR stunt - it would pay for two Kenyan long distance runners, Philip Kimely Boit and Henry Bitok, to train in cross-country skiing for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The two Kenyans have never skiied before in their lives - heck, they've never even seen snow until they arrived in Finland to train.
Bitok never qualified for the race, but Boit did. He cross-country skiied in the 10-kilometer classic in Nagano ... and came in dead last. The awards ceremony for the race had to be delayed because the winner, Norwegian cross-country skier and legend in the sport Bjørn Dæhlie, insisted on waiting 20 minutes for Boit to cross the finish line so he could cheer Boit on!
Interesting, never heard of this before. I would have expected endurance running to translate to endurance skiing better, but I don't know how good runners they were. Even top 1% is great but probably not Olympics.
I've done a fair amount of cross-country skiing, and am a locally-competitive distance runner. My guess is that if you've never even seen snow, your skiing efficiency will be poor enough that you can't finish (probably because "what's the point", not because you can't make the distance) or end up last against good skiers. Give it a few years, maybe your form will improve enough to be competitive. But it's not like running where you mostly just run.
It doesn't really translate well because an important aspect of cross-country skiing is the technique, and without proper technique you dispel too much energy to be competitive.
In 1996, Nike decided on a sports experiment / PR stunt - it would pay for two Kenyan long distance runners, Philip Kimely Boit and Henry Bitok, to train in cross-country skiing for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The two Kenyans have never skiied before in their lives - heck, they've never even seen snow until they arrived in Finland to train.
Bitok never qualified for the race, but Boit did. He cross-country skiied in the 10-kilometer classic in Nagano ... and came in dead last. The awards ceremony for the race had to be delayed because the winner, Norwegian cross-country skier and legend in the sport Bjørn Dæhlie, insisted on waiting 20 minutes for Boit to cross the finish line so he could cheer Boit on!