Meet the skier who could put Great Britain on the cross-country podium at the Winter Olympics in February

Great Britain taking on the Norwegians at cross-country skiing is a sporting contest of David versus Goliath proportions, but that is exactly what Andrew Musgrave is doing. From humble beginnings at the Huntly Nordic and Outdoor centre in Aberdeenshire, a small British team has formed, good enough to take on the best nation in the world – Norway. Just weeks before the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, Musgrave shocked the Norwegian team by winning their national championships used as their selection race for the Games. Norwegian newspapers reacted with disbelief, asking how a British skier could beat their best Olympic hopefuls and declared they had no chance in Sochi.

As is often the case, the media overreacted. Norwegian Ola Vigen Hattestad, beaten into second by Musgrave at the nationals, won gold in Sochi, and Musgrave was unable to replicate his nationals form – he was eliminated in the quarter-finals, finishing a disappointing 29th.  

Knowing he had beaten the Olympic champion so recently did nothing to alleviate Musgrave’s mood, tweeting after the race that he had skied like a “tranquilized badger”. In the years since, Musgrave has learned from the Sochi experience and his performance has shown a steady improvement.

On December 16, with just less than eight weeks until Pyeongchang 2018, Musgrave powered to third place and the podium in the 15km freestyle event at the World Cup in Toblach, Italy – the best result of his career so far. Prior to this the highlight of his competitive journey came last season at the 2017 World Championships in Lahti Finland where he placed fourth – the best Norwegians placed fifth and sixth.

Musgrave’s route to Winter Olympic athlete has been more winding than a cross-country track through a thick Norwegian forest. His father, Frank, worked in the oil industry which took the Musgrave family all over the world. Oldest sister Heather was born in Norway, where the Musgrave family’s love of skiing was ignited. Andrew’s sister Rosamund (Posy) – a fellow Olympian in cross-country from Sochi 2014, was born in Cairo. Andrew and older brother, Ben, were born in Poole, Dorset, but Andrew lived there less than a year before the family moved to the Shetland Islands.

All of the family loved skiing and even living as far away as the Shetlands did not stop them. Andrew was first put on skis as a toddler in the Alps, but it was a move to Anchorage, Alaska, that gave Musgrave, aged five, the best opportunity to take to the slopes. “I started alpine ski racing, but switched to snowboarding and cross-country skiing after a couple of years. At no point when I was in Alaska did I dream of becoming a snowboard or ski sports star.”

When Musgrave was 11, the family moved again, this time to Aberdeenshire, fortuitously close to the newly formed Huntly Nordic and Outdoor centre. “I wanted to make some friends my own age and cross-country skiing was one of the things I could do. There was a little group of us, Andrew Young, Callum Smith and Alex Standen. At first we just skied for fun, but soon we started to take it seriously and do some proper training.” All but Standen, who is now coaching the British development team are still competing and hope to compete in Pyeongchang.  

At 14 when Musgrave had just started travelling to international races, tragedy struck the Huntly club. Their coach Bob Lacey was killed in a motorbike crash on the way to his stag weekend in Skye.  

Andrew Young’s father, Roy, stepped in to coach the team with no experience in the sport although he had played rugby at a high level. The short-term goal was to prepare the team for the 2007 European Youth Olympics. Roy Young started reading up on cross-country training programmes and looked abroad for information and support.  “If I was coaching rugby I would have looked to New Zealand, but in cross-country skiing Norway are the world leaders so I made contact with them. Luckily I got through to the educational chief of the Norwegian Ski Federation, Per Nymoen, who has been helping us out ever since.”

At the European Youth Olympics 17 year old Musgrave finished a modest 47th in the 10km freestyle event. “There was still a long way to the top, but at that point I decided to become a full-time cross-country skier.” With no British national team to look up to and gain experience from, the team from Huntly needed to look abroad for training. Through Nymoen’s contacts Musgrave took a year out of education and travelled to Norway to train with a specialist ski gymnasium in Hovden. “Although I was staying at the school I didn’t go to any of the classes, I just trained with them.  I did go to Norwegian classes though in the town hall twice a week and hung out with two women from Burma and a Polish guy. I learnt Norwegian pretty quickly, and because I lived in a house with 10 other cross-country skiers, I picked up the swear words and the ski words first.” The move clearly paid off and he has been living and training in Norway ever since, where he is now working towards an engineering degree at Trondheim University.

Of the two different disciplines of cross-country, Musgrave has always enjoyed freestyle more than classic. “It’s called freestyle but it’s actually skating and just like in swimming with front crawl, it is the fastest and most fun. Spending ages learning to ski classic technically well has never been my thing, I like to go out hard and try to go as fast as I can.” Young puts it differently. “Musgrave’s greatest strength is his ability to push himself harder than anyone else, that is why he tends to do well in freestyle, particularly on hilly or tougher courses.”

Musgrave’s desire to push himself so hard could be one of the reasons he was not able to perform to the best of his abilities in Sochi. “I was in such good form before Sochi that I think my big mistake was training too hard at the altitude where we were just before the Games. I have learned now not to burn myself out, and I have been able to top my form for the last two major championships.”  A twelfth place finish in the 30km at the Falun World Championships 2015 was followed by a fourth place at Lahti 2017 in the 50km, a distance not normally favored by Musgrave. “I’m best at 15km and 30km –  any further and I tend to struggle. I was a little bit lucky in Lahti because it was really hard icy conditions [which he favours] and we set the fastest 50km time ever at a world championships.”  Musgrave came into the stadium just behind the leading group in sixth place but showed his finishing speed by crossing the line in fourth.

Musgrave does most of his training in summer and autumn, and although he prefers training outdoors, does make use of a specialist ski tunnel in Torsby, Sweden. “It is worthwhile to get good snow conditions, but I defy anyone not to get bored going around and around a 1.3km long grey concrete tunnel.”  

At the end of the racing season Musgrave relaxes by ski touring. “I can’t wait to get out my powder skis and skins, find my tent and drive to find the powder. Norway is one of the best places in the world for backcountry skiing. I’d be mad not to make the most of it.”

For Pyeongchang Musgrave is targeting the 15km race, and the 30km skiathlon, a combination of classic and freestyle skiing.  The team sprint competition will also offer a chance for Musgrave to compete with his childhood friend and team mate Andrew Young. Great Britain has never won an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing, but Andrew Musgrave feels that this could be his chance. UKSport, agree and this summer included Musgrave on its World Class Programme with access to lottery funding.

“It’s awesome that UK Sport have seen the improvements we’ve been making on the cross country team, and now believes we are a team with podium potential. That gives me a big confidence boost. I will be the prime age for a cross-country skier and I feel like I ought to be in the fight for a medal.”

Musgrave’s main rivals

Dario Cologna of Switzerland claimed a 15km freestyle gold in Vancouver 2010, a 15km classic gold and 30km skiathlon gold in Sochi 2014 so is definitely one to watch.

Experience may well count for Martin Johnsrud Sundby, the 33 year old Norwegian who will compete in his third winter Olympics and hoping to go one better than the silver from Vancouver and the bronze from Sochi.

Russian Sergey Ustiugov won two gold and three silver medals at last season’s World Championships and is equally good at sprint and long distances.

When to watch Musgrave

February 11 2018: 30km skiathlon
February 16 2018: 15km pursuit
February 21 2018: team sprint qualifiers and final