Young Kicks Off Tour De Ski With Top 10 Result
The Cross Country Skiing World Cup moved to Lenzerheide, Switzerland today with the first leg of the Tour de Ski where Andrew Young scored his best result of the season.
Qualifying through to the knockout stage in 16th, Young was one of two members of the British Nordic team to win move through from the prologue with Andrew Musgrave finishing 14th.
The pair competed against each other in the fifth and last quarter-final, and while Musgrave looked to have the speed early on, it was Young who came to the fore in the final 200 metres to finish second and make it through to the last 12.
In a high-quality semi-final field, Young stayed with the front-runners through the first kilometre but ended up in fifth and did not progress to the final.
He finished with an overall ranking of tenth, while Musgrave was 21st.
“Feels good to be back in the top 30 so I’m pretty pleased about that,” said Young. “I made a few technical errors on the second lap [of the prologue] but still finished 16th – any top 30 in this field is good so I was happy with that.”
For Young, it was a short, sharp and impressive Tour de Ski, with the 25-year-old now heading to Lillehammer for a heavy block of training before competing at the Norwegian National Championships. He will then return to the World Cup circuit at the Sprint event in Dresden, Germany in two weeks time.
Musgrave will continue competing in the Tour de Ski which takes in seven legs in three countries over nine days. New Year’s celebrations will go on hold for the 27-year-old who competes in the 15km Classic tomorrow and then the 15km Free Pursuit on the first day of 2018.
The Tour de Ski then moves on to Obersdorf, Germany on Sunday and Monday before finishing with the final two legs in Val di Fiemme, Italy on 6-7 January.
Earlier this week, fellow Brit Alex Tilley put in another solid performance at the Alpine World Cup event in Lienz, Austria
Following on from a career-best 13th in the Giant Slalom at Courchevel earlier this month, Tilley qualified for the second run in Lienz after finishing the first run in 17th. Unfortunately she lost ground on the front-runners in the second run, finishing 25th, however she is consistently showing good speed as the season rolls on.
