The weakest participant in the World Championship Event in Lahti in 2017 was Venezuela's Adrian Solano. His performance was truly a sight to behold.
Considering that Mr Solano had never practiced on snow (only roller skis in Venezuela) before participating in Lahti, his performance was stellar. He could only participate thanks to the GoFundMe campaign by Aleksi Valavuori, a Finnish sports and television personality. Solano had planned to stay for a month in Sweden to practice before the championship event but he was denied entry into the EU in Paris because the border guards did not believe him when he told them that he was a professional skier.
His performance goes way beyond Eddie Edwards, the British ski jumper and everyone's favourite underdog.
Solano did not finish the 10 km classic style race but he did finish the 1.6 km sprint after that.