With literally 2 hours to go before the first female cross country skier competing for TeamGB at the Olympics in 22 years, it’s time to post the first proper blog. I have already written a couple of blogs, but decided they were a bit controversial to post before the Olympics...
Back to today and let’s start with Fiona Hughes doing her first Olympic race (well excluding European Youth Olympics). I don’t mind admitting I am a little nervous and very excited! To have been able to meet the British Olympic Qualifying standard in its own right is a huge achievement, something not done since 1988 (when there effectively was no British standard, just the Olympic standard). To put it in perspective Fiona was not even alive when we last had a female starting at the Olympics so to be there at the age of 19 is a huge achievement!
So what can we expect from today’s race for Fi? To be honest this is hopefully a learning experience working towards 2014 and maybe 2018 Olympics for all the cross country athletes so don’t expect podiums or even the top half of the field today. She starts bib number 68 out of 78 starters, which today reflects her world ranking in the field of starters, so if she performs to her average over the last year she should be able to finish in the top 70. There are a lot of variables that could affect her finish position today not least the fantastically variable Vancouver weather!!!
So a quick explanation on how the weather could be having an effect on today’s race! So the weather has been very variable and a little warm! The start order has been changed for today, usually the slower skiers start first and then the faster skiers at the end of the field, not today! The conditions are poor in Vancouver and the organisers are worried about the course falling apart and slowing as the race goes on. So the team captains get their heads together and normally ask for the better skiers to start earlier! So today the race favourites starts between bib no. 11 and 36 the end result for Fiona is she may well end up skiing on a broken up course. This would be slower to ski on for most skiers, but unfortunately Fiona is at a further disadvantage as she is a small skier and has smaller legs than the majority of racers around her. This means that in softer snow she has to lift her feet higher as a proportion of limb length than a taller skier would have to (a very small part of understanding the biomechanics of skiing!). On the other hand if the weather holds very cold it could work to her advantage as the course would speed up as she goes on!
Waxing is the other thing that makes me nervous! Not just in terms of the lack of experience from the GB team leader but from the general lack of ski selection that some athletes have on the British team. I hope they have the right skis and structures on the base of their skis for the conditions on the day, fingers crossed as the right ski & grind makes as much difference as the right wax on the day and combined that could be a 2.5% change in performance.
Now on to the 2 Andrews!! Racing later on in the day, again I don’t think many people other than myself believed 4 years ago that the Olympics was a possibility for the British team, but it just goes to show what a bit of vision and good coaching can achieve. So Andrew Musgrave is Britain’s lead skier and earns a start bib of no. 60 so as said above could finish in the top 60 in the race. Head coach Roy Young has stated that we can achieve a finish position of 35 at this winter Olympics, so I guess this shows what an optimist thinks Andrew can achieve! In reality I think that anywhere between 45 and 50 would be a very solid result for Musgrave. But a word of warning... Andrew has struggled a bit with form this year and I know this has frustrated him, especially since an illness over the New Year period. Personally I hope he can relax and enjoy the race without too much pressure on him to perform.
Andrew Young is the youngest member of TeamGB so in a similar way to Fiona is very much at the Olympics to learn and set benchmarks to work forward from. Andrew has been on decent form in the run up to the Olympics and earns a start bib of 71 from 96 starters. In a similar way to Fiona the course might have started to slow a bit by the time Andrew comes around, but unlike Fiona, Andrew has a very large limb length so should really favour well in the softer conditions compared to the skiers around him in the start order.
Last but not least is another of my former skiers in PJ Barron, who is racing for Ireland having changed nations From Britain nearly 2 years ago. PJ Starts 86TH in the start order and again is very much at the Olympics to gain experience to work forward from towards 2014 Olympics.
For all the athletes I am crossing my fingers and hoping for stable weather and snow conditions so they can have the most equal race conditions across the whole field!
