Andrew Musgrave finishes the year with a historical result

The annual "Tour de Ski" opened in Oberhof, Germany, on Thursday 29th December with a 3.75 km freestyle prologue. In a year with no Olympics and no World Championships, the Tour is the major event in the cross-country calendar this year. The world's elite skiers will race nine times over 11 days in five venues in Germany and Italy, culminating in an exhausting race up an alpine slalom course. It is a test of both technical ability and endurance with no time to recover fully after each race. As part of the FIS (International Ski Federation) World Cup circuit skiers finishing in the top 30 of each race are awarded points with the winner of the most points becoming World Champion at the end of the season.

Andrew Musgrave set out second in the first of the nine races the 3.75 km timetrial event (where the skiers set off at 30 second intervals, with the top seeds going last). He had nobody to gauge his progress against and conditions on the course were difficult with the previous night's rain having iced over to leave a rough, glazed track. His time at the half-way mark stood as the fastest until the top ranked skiers went through. His eventual 28th place, only 20 seconds behind the winner Petter Northug from Norway, was sufficient to put him in the history books.

Andrew then finished the year with a 15km pursuit race on Friday and a further sprint event on Saturday.

The Tour continues during the first week of January and full results can be found at http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=CC&raceid=20423