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Winter Olympics: Musgrave disappointed to finish seventh in skiathlon
Leading the news on Sunday in South Korea was an earthquake just 100 miles away from the Olympics, later in the day they nearly had a seismic shock of another kind to report.
But Andrew Musgrave’s seventh place in the men’s 30km skiathlon is no surprise to those who follow the sport.
Four years ago he won the Norwegian national championships – and remember they call in Nordic skiing for a reason.
He’s a regular in the top ten of World Cup races and last year just missed the medals at the World Championships, finishing fourth in the men’s 50km event.
Simen Hegstad Krueger led home a Norwegian clean sweep to maintain normal order – but Musgrave now has a taste for it. He was always in contention, indeed moving into the silver medal position during the closing stages of the race before starting to fade.
And that only gives him cause for confidence ahead of Friday’s 15km event, the race he has long been targeting as his best chance of a medal in South Korea.
“It’s a decent result but I’m not at the Olympics to come seventh. I’m here to fight for a win,” said Musgrave.
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“If you told me ten years ago I would be seventh in the Olympics, I wouldn’t have thought I would be disappointed with it. But that is what makes an athlete – you want more.
“I’m a little upset because I felt really good. I felt awesome with about a lap and a half to go, I thought a medal was right there.
“That’s why I do this. I think all the guys at the top, if you don’t believe you can win, then you’re not going to spend the thousands hours out training, pushing our pain limits every session. You don’t do that if you don’t believe you can win.”
Musgrave – who signed off his post-race debrief with the waiting media with ‘see you on the podium’ – is certainly a man with the knack of a quote.
Indeed, ‘I skied like a tranquilised badger’ – his analysis of his best chance in Sochi four years ago – has become a quote worthy classic.
“That race does give me a bit of confidence,” he said.
“The 15km should be my best event. I was in the fight for the medals here until the last couple of kilometres. So when this isn’t my best, come Friday I should be in the fight for the victory.
“Hopefully I go fast on Friday and get a medal and that will give cross-country skiing a good bit of coverage in the UK.
“It is never going to be the biggest in Britain where we don’t have snow conditions like Norway. But if we get a few coming through, that is what we need.”
Watch Andrew Musgrave go for his medal on Friday at 6am on Eurosport 1. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www.Eurosport.co.uk
