Hopf-Rinow theorem
Theorem
Given a connected Riemannian manifold, it is a geodesically complete manifold if and only if it is a Cauchy complete metric space.
That is, if we have that if the geodesics can be extended to all of R (with a constant speed parametrization) then every pair of points can be joined by a curve whose length is the minimum of the lengths of the curves joining them.
Counterexample: let
Then, there is no smooth geodesic in
Remark
There is no Hopf-Rinow theorem for pseudo-Riemannian manifolds.