‘Gutted’ Musgrave goes off to eat cake and take his mind off skiing
That’s the problem when you raise expectation levels – the disappointment when you come up short is felt even more acutely.
In the run-up to yesterday’s Olympic men’s 15km free, Andrew Musgrave had talked the talk – telling the media following his British-best performance of seventh in Sunday’s skiathlon that they would next see him on the podium come Friday.
His coach had also described him as an Olympic champion in waiting, capable of toppling the Norwegians – and the assorted press pack gathered expecting to see Musgrave walk the walk.
Except he did not. More than two minutes off gold medalist Dario Cologna, Musgrave came home 28th in a time of 35:51.0 in what was expected to be his strongest event.
“That was pretty shocking, I don’t know what happened,” he said. “It was the most important race I’ve ever done. I’m just gutted, this was the race that I’ve been targeting.
“I knew on a good day I could be here fighting for a medal but I never thought I’d go as slow as that. It was a struggle from start to finish.
“The plan was to go out easy on the first lap and leave myself to attack on the second lap because I thought a few guys might go out too hard and get over-excited because it’s the Olympics. I started off conservatively but I felt heavy the whole way around and never got going. It’s just a shocker.”
Indeed, there was a bigger cheer from the spectators for Tongan taekwondo athlete turned plucky crosscountry skier Pita Taufatofua who managed to avoid coming last despite only spending 12 weeks on snow. He was instead third last.
Britain’s other two athletes, Andrew Young and Callum Smith, were 57th and 75th respectively.
Musgrave does get the opportunity to go for success again in the 50km mass start on the penultimate day of the Games – while there is also the team sprint on Wednesday.
But in the immediate short term, Musgrave indicated distraction techniques would be the best option to get over his latest disappointment. “I’m going to do the 50km and if I have a good day then I should be near the top end but right now I just need to think about something else,” he added.
“I’m not the most confident about my ability to ski at the moment, I’m just gutted.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do for the next few days, play air hockey, eat cake, have a doughnut, anything but think about skiing. I need to take my mind off this.”
Watch Andrew Musgrave in action in the 50km mass start on Saturday 24 February on Eurosport. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www. Eurosport.co.uk