James Clugnet credits team behind the team for his remarkable rise

James Clugnet credits the team behind the team for his own rapid rise and the success story that is British cross-country skiing.The 25-year-old sprint specialist has joined Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young at the summit of the sport, going further than any Team GB athletes have gone before.But things weren't always so rosy and when he finished third last at the U23 World Championships in 2017, Clugnet's Olympic ambitions looked like a pipe dream.A switch flicked, according to the skier, in 2018 when the sport began benefitting from the support of The National Lottery.«I never thought it would be possible to go to the Olympics, let alone to compete for top ten and a medal which is what I'm going for,» said Clugnet, who is one of over 1,000 athletes able to train full-time, access the world's best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support thanks to vital National Lottery funding.«The team got super professional in 2018 and National Lottery funding made a huge difference for me.»Suddenly I had coaches who were really following me, really involved and showed me what it took to be good.

They really believed in me and pushed me to do it.«I've always really wanted to be good — it wasn't a problem of motivation, I didn't know how to do it.»Having finished 41st a year earlier, he improved 28 places to 13th at the next U23 World Championships after feeling the benefit of an improved support system.Since then Clugnet, born in Grenoble to an English mother and French father, has broken into the ranks of the best sprint skiers in the world and twice hit the World Cup top ten.He regularly competes in quarter-final showdowns on the sport's top-level circuit against global stars like Norway's Johannes