Birthday Win for Andrew

Cross-country skier Andrew Musgrave(20), newly returned from the Vancouver Olympics, claimed the biggest prize of his career yesterday when he won the men’s Norwegian Junior Championship 10km Free technique race….on his 20th birthday!

This is a stunning result for Andrew (right on the attached picture) and the first time a British skier has outperformed the Norwegians at their own championships. This has been a goal for Andrew since he opted to train in Hovden, Norway, from August last year following a recommendation from Roar Hjelmeset, Norway's junior national team coach. His aim was to improve his technique and the 160 Norwegians he defeated in yesterday’s race would probably agree that he has achieved it!

Andrew had a good Olympics campaign and flew back ahead of the rest of the team to prepare for this event. He took part in the Norwegian championships as a guest, and though he won the race, the title of Norwegian Junior Champion had to go to a Norwegian national – in this case Finn-Hågen Krogh who came second by a very tight margin of 0.2 seconds.

An article on the Norwegian Junior Championships website describes how Krogh [who recently scored a Gold, Bronze, and a fourth at the World Juniors Championships in Germany] was thrilled to be Norwegian Junior Champion. That is until he was told he wasn't first in the race, and that honour went to a Scot. Krogh was so taken aback that he threw his skis down the hill! A beaming Andrew is quoted as saying in "charmingly good Norwegian" that he was very happy.

In general his Norwegian friends are a little shocked but really pleased for Andrew. An article from NRK ( which is the Norwegian equivalent of the BBC) succinctly summarizes the situation thus:

"Scotsman Andrew Musgrave gave himself an excellent birthday present at the Junior Norwegian Championships in Stryn; he gave all the Norwegians a beating - in their own championships."
 

This story has been taken from www.bnds.org.uk