Andrew Musgrave has moved into unchartered waters for a British cross-country skier at the Winter Olympics in Sochi after reaching the sprint quarter-finals.
Musgrave, who caused a stir by winning the sprint race at last month’s Norwegian Championships on a course similar to that in Russia, placed 27th in qualifying.
He clocked a time of 3:37.75 minutes to set up a best ever British performance and breathed a huge sigh of relief having first thought that it might not be enough for the top 30 that qualified.
“It wasn't amazing. It's easy to go too hard at the bottom of the uphill. I went too fast, I should have saved a bit more for the last section of the course,” he said.
"It's just bad tactics. It's been so warm and they salted the uphills, so they're hard and icy and nice but it's soft in the downhills and in the turns.”
© Sportsbeat 2014