Cross country skier Andrew Musgrave continues to show maturity beyond his years after getting his World Cup campaign off to a positive start in Norway.

The 19-year-old was the youngest competitor in a 100-strong field in the 15km free technique race in Beitostøle and battled valiantly to finish 72nd.

Musgrave finished 6.58 per-cent behind Norwegian winner Ronny Andre Hafsaas and earned 52.64 FIS points for his efforts – his best total in his 11 career World Cup races.

The Scot is well on course to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver but still faces competition from Alex Standen, Andrew Young, Callum Smith, Marc Walker and Simon Platt for the three British places.

Musgrave – who is a member of Huntly Nordic Ski Club – will move onto Gålå in Norway and Särna and Idre in Sweden over the next two weeks and he said: “The race in Norway went quite well, but I feel I have more to give, and hope to improve as the season progresses.”