Nordic Nation: Musgrave Doing More With Less

At 26 years old, Andrew Musgrave, or “Muzzy” as the Eurosport commentators call him, of the British National Ski Team is a top-20 ranked distance skier on the World Cup. The down-to-earth, self-deprecating Scotsman placed sixth in the 15 k freestyle World Cup on Jan. 21 in Ulricehamn, Sweden. And let’s not forget, Musgrave burst onto the scene when he won the Norwegian skate-sprint national championship in 2014 before the Sochi Olympics. Then last year, Musgrave busted out a fourth place at 2016 Norwegian nationals in the 30 k skiathlon. That’s downright cheeky.

Did we mention he’s from Britain (Scotland actually)? We did.

He’s an outsized presence on the World Cup despite hailing from a land of kilts, bagpipes, and golf links. Musgrave balances out that lack of nordic heritage with a hardy work ethic and a willingness to wend to where the snow and competition is — in his case, that’s been Norway. He’s based out of Trondheim where he is taking the extended-stay plan when it comes to earning his engineering degree and training for international competition.

Nordic Nation caught up with Musgrave on Jan. 24 when he was in Livigno, Italy, for a pre-World Championships high-altitude camp.

(Here’s a link to a FasterSkier article explaining how the British National Team gets Norwegian assistance with its waxing — the waxing help is mentioned in the podcast. Musgrave also gets wax and ski selection help from Salomon service techs.)

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