Coach's Olympic Review
Encouraging return to Olympic competition for GB Cross-country skiing.
So that’s it then.
We are on the bus back to Vancouver and have squeezed all the Team GB kit into bags. It’s early morning and already the Sea to Sky highway is back to normal, no Olympic lane, no police escort or helicopter cover for the convoy. Actually there is no convoy, just a bus from Pennsylvania (giving a hint that this is part of a mammoth task) and the normal Greyhound service from Whistler to Vancouver.
The first Cross-country Olympians since 1994 can reflect on a job well done. The statistics are impressive. The standard way of measuring performance in Cross Country is by comparison of the percent behind the winner of the race. When this is done the young 2010 team produced the best men’s performance, as well as the 3rd and 15th best of all time. It was also the 4th best women performance. This is something to be proud off and to build on. There will be a legacy that spreads further than the 3 athletes who made it here.
The selection criteria were tough. They were set in negotiation with the British Olympic Association (BOA) with the intention of having the athletes stretched to reach the targets. They were set at 2 levels. The higher level (A criteria) allowed skiers meeting this to race at all Olympic races. The lower level (B criteria) was more attainable, but harder than those set by FIS, and allowed the athlete to race 1 event. To select more than 1 male and 1 female Britain needed to have 2 men or 2 women to be skiing better than the A criteria and for one of them to be in the top 300 in the world.
The criteria were based on the average of the FIS points for the best five races over an 18 month period. No Male British skier had reached the targets set for the B criteria since the Lillehammer Olympics in ‘94.
As the selection races got underway it soon became evident that Andrew Musgrave (19) was not only within the A criteria, he was racing so well he put himself in the top 300 of the World so ensuring a 3 rd place for a British skier. The early part of the 2009 – ’10 season showed all athletes skiing well (and Scandinavian coaches praising our whole team). However it was in central Europe that some World Class skiing at Hochfilzen, Oberwiesenthal and Marbach emphasised how competitive the team can be and left 3 men within the A criteria and 1 women within the B. This in itself was an outstanding achievement. For 16 years no British skiers had been below 100 FIS points and now there were 3, no British Women been below 120 for even longer. Unfortunately this limit of 3 places meant that selection had to exclude one A qualified male athlete, Callum Smith (17), from the team.
The attitude and actions of all those on the Olympic selection were truly Olympian. The selected team members are young but there was no doubt that they are the best British skiers for a generation. The standard of skiing they showed was world class and not just by age group. That Britain, a developing nation which is not able to run a FIS race, had won the right to have 3 people at the Olympics is a great success.
Fiona Hughes (19) skied her best skate race ever and produced the 4th best women’s result of all time. (only Ros Coats in ’84 and Francis Lutkins in both her races of ’72 have done better).
Andrew Musgrave produced the best result ever for a British Country Skier. At 8.73% behind the winner he is the closest that any British skier has come to the winner, the first Britain to have been within 10% of the winner and so is truly World Class. His pursuit result was the 3rd closest a British skier has ever come to the winner.
Andrew Young’s (18) 15k was the 15th best ski of any British race -only six British skiers have ever done better in terms of percent behind the winner. The classic sprint was amazing, to come in as well as he did after falling showed he can be competitive in this field. .
Despite not being able to finish the Team Sprint because of team illness Andrew Musgrave emphasised his world class with a stunning 2nd leg – a British skier was the fastest person over the 2nd 1.6 k in an Olympic field. For our final race, an amazing performance.
So all our skiers had at least one amazing race and even when not amazing they raced at the high standard they had set themselves.
The legacy begins now. Not just for the 3 skiers who showed great maturity throughout and have the experience to take us towards Sochi. To race at higher and higher levels needs more and more support and the athletes have shown that they can race with the best. The athletes need the support of all within British Cross Country skiing to capitalise on the fantastic success of 2010. The Olympics of 2010 may have ended, but 2014 needs targeting.
There are opportunities created with this young group and now is the time for everyone to move forward and support these excellent skiers to the hilt.
