Musgrave trains in Trondheim with Olympic medals on his mind: 'I'd big up Cross-Country in Britain'

Apr 02, 2025·Cross-Country

When Great Britain's Andrew Musgrave came into Trondheim's Granaasen stadium in the final lap of the Men's 20km Skiathlon Classic/Free, it was a moment the 35-year-old had been dreaming of for a long time.

Musgrave, from Huntly in Scottish Aberdeenshire, has spent more than a decade in the Norwegian Cross-Country melting pot to improve his skiing, training alongside Trondheim locals such as five-time overall World Cup winner Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR).

"I've lived in Trondheim for 12 years now and this is massive for me," said the distance expert, whose apartment is only a couple of kilometers from the iconic ski center.

For a Brit, the Olympics is a bigger thing than the World Championships. But for me, on the adopted home tracks, this was unbelievable. This was so cool.– Andrew Musgrave (GBR)

In front of more than 45,000 loud Cross-Country fans in the first distance event of the 2025 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships, Musgrave had placed himself at the front of the pack, ahead of Klaebo and other superstars such as defending overall World Cup winner Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) and 2017 Sprint World champion Federico Pellegrino (ITA).

He kept his lead far into the last kilometer but in the final climb, Klaebo went past him and the battle for the gold medal was over. Musgrave had to settle for a seventh place as Klaebo, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Amundsen and Jan Thomas Jenssen made it an all-Norwegian top-four.

"I felt like I was strong today but at the same time it was kind of a standard procedure for me; a group with some fast people in it, I tried to go hard on the last lap but it just ends up with me pulling everybody into the sprint and then me being old and slow and everyone going past before the finish," Musgrave said.

Despite an endless amount of training hours at Granaasen over the past few years leading up to the World Championships, it was still a hard task for Musgrave to prepare himself for the loud noise at the stadium.

"The atmosphere was absolutely unbelievable. Where the wax cabins are, where we were by the start and everything, is closed off, so there are no crowds around there. So you don't notice how many people there are," he said.

Then I just went out on the warm-up and saw this wall of people. And it was absolutely unbelievable and I just got this adrenaline rush. I was going super slow at the warm-up but I was almost at max heart rate anyway, it was absolutely wild.– Andrew Musgrave (GBR)

Musgrave had picked up Cross-Country skiing in Alaska, USA, where his family lived for six years when he was a child because of his father's job. After moving back to Britain, he would not stop skiing and the move to Norway meant he could live and train where skiing is a part of life.

Despite an endless amount of training hours at Granaasen over the past few years leading up to the World Championships, it was still a hard task for Musgrave to prepare himself for the loud noise at the stadium.

"There are some British flags around and a few British people here. I've got my family out so there are definitely a few people here cheering. It is not quite as big in Britain as it is in Norway, but there are a few people who know I'm here racing.– Andrew Musgrave (GBR)

His best result in Trondheim came in the last day of Men's competitions at the World Championships, finishing sixth in the 50km Mass Start where he was the only non-Nordic athlete in the top-eight. To grab the attention of a wider British audience, however, Musgrave hopes for a podium at next year's big event; the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

The biggest thing for Britain is the Olympics. Every four years, the Olympics come around and then we get a bit of attention, but I've still got a year to get a little bit faster or a little less slow in the sprint, to make it exciting and get a medal next year.– Andrew Musgrave (GBR)