James Slimon takes on the best at Youth Olympic Games
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LAGGAN cross-country skier James Slimon had three finishes in the 60s against the very best young racers in the world at the Youth Olympic Games.
The 17-year-old finished 64th in the 10K Classic race at the Lausanne YOG 2020 games on Tuesday afternoon which was just above his seeded position.
He finished 67th out of 86 competitors in the men's ski cross in a time of five minutes 5.80 seconds and 63rd out of a field of 87 in the men's sprint, crossing the line in three minutes 47.63 seconds.
Both results were above his seeding for the events.
Slimon told the Strathy while packing: "The experience has been really good and been around so many different nations competing in different sports has been exciting.
"There are lots of things I can take away from the Youth Olympics and practice and improve on for future events like this one."
His coach Roger Homyer was delighted with the results: "James has had a very good Olympics against the best youth skiers in the world.
"As a member of Team GB, he has been treated as an elite athlete with the intention of motivating him to aspire to full Olympic status.
"James has the necessary qualities to achieve this and we can expect to see him join the GBR senior team and eventually race on the World Cup circuit."
Slimon has become just the second GBR cross-country skier to compete at the youth games, following in the ski tracks of Dalnavert's Scott Dixon in 2012 which took place in Innsbruck in Austria.
The teen, currently based in Lillehammer in Norway for the winter, had been training and competing in races across Scandinavia in the build-up to the YOG 2020.
The former Kingussie High School pupil has been coached by Homyer, of Highland Nordic, and received invaluable support from snowsportscotland and Scottish Institute of Sport.
The games in Switzerland came to a close on Wednesday.
* All the results from Lausanne can be found here.
Related article: Laggan skier James Slimon ready for Youth Olympic Games bow
