Cross-country skier Andrew Musgrave was more mystified than at any time in his 13-year career by the way he slowed to ‘crawling’ pace in the Olympic 15km in Beijing.
The Scot was inside the top 20 through the first 3.5km but struggled badly on the second circuit of the course and finished 46th in a time of 41 minutes 44.7 seconds.
It left Musgrave searching for answers and for the first time, failing to find them.
“To be honest, I'm super disappointed and I can't really understand what went on,” said the 31-year-old.
“In the build-up to the Olympics everything has gone to plan. I haven't had any issues but this was just so far off what I expect and I don't understand.
“It feels a wee bit different. In previous times if I've not raced so fast, there's always been a bit of an explanation. I haven’t got a clue what’s gone wrong.
“Classic has always been my weaker discipline and freestyle should be better. But at the same time, I've got to have a better feeling than that.”
Musgrave covered the first 3km in a sprightly 8 minutes 36.6 seconds but faded, believing he got the balance of his effort wrong.
“At this altitude, you've got to go out and feel like you've got a bit of gas left in the tank for the second lap,” he said.
“I felt like the first lap was alright, not too bad, but going out on the second lap when you've got to try and increase the speed, I just felt dead and didn't manage to increase the pace at all. Instead of doing that, I started crawling!”
It was also a tough day at the office Andrew Young who like his long-standing team-mate favoured neither the distance nor the technique.
Young began his Olympic campaign in Tuesday’s sprint and having recently recovered from a bout of Covid, found the tight turnaround tricky and finished 51st in 42:24.0.
“It was a tough day for me,” said Young. “I struggled a little bit to recover after the sprint a few days ago, so I was a bit tired.
“I pushed hard all the way and made the most out of it. So, with the situation I’m pleased with how it went.”
It’s clear that missing training due to self-isolation and post-viral fatigue has totally shifted the dial on Young’s expectation for his fourth Games.
“It has changed from being in my best-ever shape and wanting to get top, top results to wanting to just make the best of the situation," said Young.
“I just want to do good races tactically and technically now, it has changed the mentality coming in.”
Young and James Clugnet have broken new ground for Britain at World Cup level in the team sprint event, slated for Saturday.
“I think our absolute dream would be to make the final, which is the top ten,” he said.
“There are a lot of things that have to go right for us to do that, including the draw as the semi-finals are drawn and if we get the right draw we could end up being in the final but that is a tough and lofty ambition for us.
“Obviously Jimmy didn’t have the best race in the individual sprint (finishing 40th). And I’ve not been in the best shape with all things considered.
“We will definitely do everything we can to make that final and if we did that it would be fantastic.”
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