North-east skier Andrew Musgrave stunned a nation that has 96 Olympic cross-country medals to its name by claiming a famous victory in the Norwegian cross-country champion-ships in Lillehammer yesterday.
The 23-year-old from Oyne, near Insch, described his unlikely win in the freestyle sprint as “easily the best thing I’ve done” after beating rivals who were competing for places on Norway’s ultra-competitive Winter Olympic roster. Musgrave broke away from the field in the final stages and his triumph caused widespread dis- belief in Norway.
Musgrave said: “Winning the Norwegian championships just a few weeks before I go to the Olympics in Sochi is easily the best thing I’ve done. It’s always good fun beating the Norwegians at their own sport. I live in Norway and go to university here, so it almost feels like a home victory.
“I’ve had a lot of Norwegians coming up to me and telling me that as it’s basically their own Olympic selection race, I could have made their team for the games. I feel like not just me but our whole Great Britain team is getting some great results and showing that we can ski really well.”
Musgrave made his games debut in Vancouver four years ago when still a teenager and has long been held up as an unlikely long-term medal prospect for Pyeongchang in 2018.
Musgrave’s own very minimum expectation for Sochi is to become the first Briton to finish in the top 30 in the sprint prologue, which would qualify him from the quarter-finals – from which the top 12 then move on to the semis. Musgrave added: “If I don’t get through the prologue I would be ridiculously disappointed with myself.
“I feel like I ought to get to the semi-final at least and once you’re in the semi-final anything can happen. It’s a hard course and people get tired.”
Musgrave will be officially confirmed as part of Great Britain’s cross-country team for Sochi next week alongside team-mates Andrew Young and Calum Smith. Musgrave’s elder sister, Posy, and Fiona Hughes are also striving for qualification places.
GB Cross-Country Team leader Roy Young said: “This is an amazing win for Andrew.
“It is a demolition job on some world-class racers who had everything to gain as it was effectively a Norwegian selection race for the Olympics.
“If Andrew were Norwegian, I’m sure he would be selected for their team.”