The notion of Scotland hosting the World Cup is, clearly, far-fetched but it’s the comparison that springs to Andrew Musgrave’s mind when he anticipates the atmosphere he’s going to be competing in over the next fortnight.
Today, the Nordic World Ski Championships begin in Trondheim in Norway, with cross-country skiing, ski-jumping and nordic combined included on the programme. Given these are Norway’s national sports, cross-country skier Musgrave believes it’s impossible to overstate how unique an experience this will be for athletes and spectators alike.
“This World Championships is going to be the biggest thing that's happening in Norway this entire year. It really is like Scotland hosting the World Cup,’ the 34-year-old says.
“Hotel prices are five times what they normally are and the 220,000 tickets are pretty much sold out. It's going to be absolutely awesome and the experience will be unbelievable with packed stands and thousands upon thousands of people lining the course.”
This World Championships have particular significance for Musgrave, with Trondheim his home away from home.
Having grown-up in Huntly in Aberdeenshire, Musgrave then relocated to Trondheim to further his skiing career and he’s optimistic his home advantage could significantly aid his medal ambitions in the coming days.
“I’ll have some home support, which will be nice,” he says.
“And I definitely have a few small advantages because I train on the track - it’s only 2km from my flat in Trondheim.
“It’s a track that should suit me and I know it very well so I think there could be some good days coming up.”
Musgrave has been on the international stage for over a decade-and-a-half and remarkably, he remains at the sharp end of the sport.
The Scot achieved one of the best results of his career less than two months ago with a bronze medal in the 20km race at the Toblach World Cup event in Italy on New Year’s Eve and he goes into this World Championships, where he will race the 10km and 20km races as well as his strongest event, the 50km, optimistic he can challenge for the podium and win what would be his first World Championship medal.
“This World Championships has been the focus of my season and getting onto the podium is definitely my goal because I’ve been fourth before at the World Championships so I feel I've got to do better than that this time,” he says.
“I'm getting towards the twilight of my career and the older I get, the more my endurance has increased so the 50km just gets better and better for me.
“I feel like my top level is higher than ever so it’s about doing everything right on the day.
“I try not to think too much about finishing positions - I just control what I can control and if I do everything well then the results should be good. And if not then I’ll have to re-evaluate afterwards.”
While the World Championships are Musgrave’s priority in the short-term, he already has one eye on next year’s Winter Olympics, which begin in just under a year in Italy.
All going to plan, Musgrave will spearhead the GB team for what will be his fifth Olympic Games and he admits such a tally would have seemed unbelievable to his teenage self growing-up in the north of Scotland.
What is, he admits, even more surreal is that he’s not targeting merely a fifth Olympic appearance, but he’s set himself the goal of winning an Olympic medal.
It goes without saying how much of a boost Olympic silverware would give Musgrave’s personal profile but it would also give his sport some much-needed and richly-deserved headlines.
“I think back to when I first started to ski - I knew about the Olympics and I remember thinking it'd be cool to be there,” he says.
“I then got to a point where making it to an Olympics seemed achievable but the fact that I'm at the top of the sport and I'm an actual medal contender is a little bit nuts.
“When I was younger, that was too far-fetched to even be a dream whereas now it feels like I should be able to manage it.
“Obviously football and rugby are the main sports in Scotland so if I can win a medal at this World Championships and show that I’m a real medal candidate for the Olympics then that'll definitely give the sport a profile boost in Britain. That’d be great because cross-country skiing definitely needs a bit more press coverage in the UK to help get more people involved.”
