by US Media Team
February 6, 2007
Competing in the 15km Mass Start event at the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, site of the 2002 Olympic Nordic events, Angus McCusker gave everything he had, finishing fourth behind a powerful contingent of Russians who swept the top three places. Though he didn’t medal, McCusker earned rave reviews for his performance in this grueling test of speed, power, endurance and strategy.
Racing on a 5km circuit Angus was 6th after the first lap and shortly after the racers cleared the stadium area he jumped into 4th, 3.9 seconds behind the leader. Two-thirds of the way through the second circuit the racers began a second ascent of what could be called, “heartbreak hill,” an extended rise with a steep slope. Angus began encountering difficulty at the beginning of the ascent and moments later found himself in 6th place and further off the leaders pace. He appeared to recover somewhat after the climb and finished the second lap in the 5 spot, 29 seconds behind.
McCusker rallied on the final lap finishing in 43:26.9, good enough for 4th, though clearly not enough to catch any of the Russians who were the prohibitive favorites and at the end were essentially competing with themselves. Of the six medals available in this event, for both Men and Women, Russia won five of them. A Ukrainian woman proved to be the only obstacle to a sweep of the two events when she snared the bronze. In that race Russians also took 4th and 7th, and in the Men’s race a Russian also finished closely behind McCusker, indicative of their overall dominance of these Nordic events.
McCusker, a Vermont resident, is one of the nicest people anyone could hope to meet. The recently married young man was appreciative of the support he received by the U.S. fans and family friends in attendance.