MUSGRAVE IN A RACE TO WIN ELUSIVE MEDAL

ANDREW MUSGRAVE believes it’s now or never to land an elusive medal at a Winter Olympics after he was selected for his fourth Games in Beijing. The Aberdonian, who will be joined by Andrew Young and James Clugnet — both graduates of Snowsport Scotland’s base in Huntly — in a three-strong crosscountry skiing squad, has raised the bar since relocating to Norway a decade ago to plunge full-time into the sport. Seventh in Pyeongchang in 2018, he has seen Young steal the spotlight with two World Cup podiums this winter. But experience, the 31-year-old claims, can finally push him towards the podium when he hits China next month. ‘I’m definitely getting towards the end of my time where a medal is likely,’ he said. ‘And so definitely, it feels like I’ve got to go fast this time.’ He was among 18 skiers and three snowboarders selected to represent the UK at the Beijing Games on Friday. The six-strong Caledonian contingent includes Kirsty Muir, the 17-year-old free skier from Aberdeen who has risen from Youth Olympic silver medallist in 2020 to outside bet for a medal in the Slopestyle and Big Air, plus alpine skiiers Charlie Guest and Alex Tilley, with both bound for their second Games off top-15 results on the World Cup circuit this season. Musgrave (below) will undertake cross-country three distance races over 15, 30 and 50 kilometres. The longer the better, he insists. ‘The 30 and the 50 are definitely my best chances,’ he said. ‘The older you get, the better you get at long distance. And after doing a few Games, I’m definitely getting to the long end of things now.’ But he learnt from four years ago when he went to South Korea as a contender to excel and fell short, the victim of illness in the second half of the Games, which knocked him off his stride in a test of extreme endurance at sub-zero. ‘I wasn’t badly ill,’ he said. ‘It was just a bit of a cold. But at the top level of sport, if you have a slight one-per-cent decrease in performance, then you just tumble down the results list. The whole hygiene thing isn’t going to be so much of an issue this year with Covid. So I think that’ll take care of itself. But it’s just about making sure you’re supercautious with everything you do. And everything is performance-based. I definitely learned a wee bit from that — just about the small details of things you do at the Games.’