GB skiers in Italy, Norway and France
Last weekend while Andrew Musgrave was completing the Tour de Ski, other members of the GB Team were competing in Norway and France.
In Arvieux, France, Fiona Hughes, Simon Platt and Alex Standen were skiing in the Alpen Cup races. Fiona and Simon had been to pre-Christmas races in Austria (where Fiona re-qualified for World Cup races when she scored 108 FIS points in the 5km classic race in St Ulrich) but this was Alex's first time on snow since he broke his foot a year ago. Fiona said afterwards that the altitude and changing weather conditions made waxing and race tactics more complicated than usual. On Friday and Saturday they felt that they got both of them right and Fiona was particularly happy with the skate time trial where she thought she skated better than she had ever done before. But on Sunday she said that the sun rising over the mountains warmed the tracks quickly so that her kick wax was ineffective and she was not so pleased with the race. While Alex and Simon didn't match Fiona's points they showed that they are coming back into form in time for the World Under 23 Championships which is to take place in February in Turkey.
Meanwhile in Norway, Andrew Young and Callum Smith were competing in the Junior Norwegian Cup races. The three day weekend was a major event in the Norwegian calendar and all their races had almost 200 entrants. Andrew has been living and training at the Norwegian Ski School in Geilo again this year, but Callum in now in his first year at Edinburgh University and had only been back on snow for 10 days before the first race. Nonetheless he showed that he has lost none of his snow skills and in the first event, the 20km freestyle mass start he finished 23rd and earned 112 FIS points thereby ensuring he keeps his World Cup start for another year. In the same race Andrew Young started his Norwegian campaign with a 9th place - a great result which he said didn't come easy. "On the third lap a group went off the front but I was too far back in the pack to go with them. I got within 5 metres of the lead group and held that position for 2.5km but just couldn't close the gap. More skiers attacked from behind and I ended out-sprinting one of them to take 9th place."
Neither Callum nor Andrew considered the next day to be successful, though Callum finishing 47th of 112 sprinters in the prologue would be considered good by most standards. And Andrew's 12th place ensured him a start in the knock-out heats. However he said that he had struggled with his warm up because it was very cold with new snow falling and although his prologue was "reasonable", in the sprint into the stadium in the quarter-finals he was forced out into the new snow and couldn't keep up with the pack.
The final race was the 10km freestyle timetrial. With an early start Andrew said that it was "another good day but not without problems again. I was missed at both of my timing points on the first lap but as I went out onto my second lap I saw Callum, about 15 seconds in front of me and fought hard to chase him down. At the second checkpoint I was told I was in first position and was still in first when I came across the line but at that point the best skiers had not even started so had to wait to hear my final position. I was pleased to finish 7th - it's great to be in the top 10 in a class field".
So a good weekend all round for British skiing. British skiers will next take to the tracks in the OPA Cup in Zweisel, Germany, on 14th and 15th January.
