He ultimately secured sixth place with a commendable time of 21:06.3, marking his best-ever performance at a Winter Olympic games. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Musgrave.
Owing to unusually warm temperatures, he had to sport a rather striking vest. He then had to abruptly exit an interview due to feeling sick.
Discussing the incident, Musgrave said: « Quite often with shorter, harder races, when we push with super-high lactic acid levels, I sometimes have to vomit at the end. That’s always a sign I have pushed it hard.
« It just came a bit quickly so I had to go for a little spew there. I’ve got mixed feelings. The position is fairly decent and I was feeling good.
« But when I’m out training every day, it’s not sixth spot I’m dreaming of. I’m not going to go and party tonight and pop the champagne or anything like that.
« The wax techs did an awesome job, so I had super good skis. I stuck to my plan well over the first two laps.
« It was hot so you don’t want to go out too hard, because it’s easy to push a bit too hard and then die. But I pushed a bit too hard on the last lap and those last two hills I was absolutely dying.
« I was never going to be in the fight for the medals. It was a long way up to the guys fighting for the podium. I should probably have been able to take fourth spot, though.
« After the first two laps, I felt like I had plenty in the tank – and could go up another gear. But I probably should have increased the speed a bit more gradually rather than losing my head with 2.5 kilometres to go. »
After his latest performance, Musgrave indicated he wasn’t contemplating retirement – just yet – although he acknowledged uncertainty about competing at the 2030 games. He said: « I don’t know. I have no plans for when I’m going to retire. I love skiing. I love training.
« There’s nothing else I want to do. I don’t feel any reason to think about retiring at the moment. But whether I’ve got another four years in me, I don’t know. We’ll see. »
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