Laggan cross-country skier heads to junior world champs
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Young GB cross-country ski talent James Slimon is taking on the best juniors in the world this coming week.
The Laggan teen will be competing in three disciplines in the Finnish resort of Vuokatti, which is hosting the Junior and U23 Cross-Country World Ski Championships.
The cross-country ski championships get under way on Monday and run until February 14.
Slimon has been based in Lillehammer in Norway since the start of November for his preparations and flew out yesterday.
The 18-year-old told the Strathy before heading to the champs: “I have been training here over Christmas and new year, and fly out to Finland on Friday. The hope is to improve on my results for last year.
“The conditions here have been good, so we have been able to get the most out of it. The world juniors will be our first races this season, so it will be a bit of a change from last year.
"The restrictions are very strict, we will also have a number of Covid tests before racing.”
Slimon’s first race is the classic sprint on Tuesday, then the 10km freestyle two days later, and finishes with the 30km classic on Sunday.
