Thomas Maloney Westgaard has finished 43rd in the cross-country skiathlon at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
Ireland's first competitor at the Games finished the 30km course in Zhangjiakou in a time of one hour, 25 minutes and 29.8 seconds, 9:20 behind winner Alexander Bolshunov of the Russian Olympic Committee (1:16:09).
Bolshunov's compatriot Denis Spitsov took silver while Finland's Iivo Niskanen clamed bronze.
Maloney Westgaard (26) was 42nd in the opening 15km classic skis section of the course, after which 27 competitors were eliminated, and ranked the same in the skate skis 15km for 43rd overall, 17 places better than in his Olympic debut four years ago.
Westgaard said the pressure was on from the start on what was a steep course in challenging weather conditions.
"It was one of the toughest races I have ever done," he said. "And at altitude too which has a big impact in these Games.
"I gave everything I could, I couldn't really have done anything else. It was extremely tough going, so when you are halfway through you just want to finish really.
"Of course I dream of bigger places, the third spots and top thirty, but this is how it is. I am satisfied I could give everything and pull off a respectable result."
Watch the reigning world champion and now Olympic champion Alexander Bolshunov come home in splendid isolation to take gold in the men's 2x15 km skiathlon at #Beijing2022 #rtesport pic.twitter.com/dhnEeWV9Yw
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 6, 2022
Having missed several warm-up competitions after contracting Covid-19 in January, Westgaard is now looking forward to his remaining two events, the sprint (Tuesday) and 15km classic (Friday) cross-country disciplines.
"I came up to this race now without knowing really where I stood because I hadn't competed for a month when I had Covid, which had an impact," he said. "So I was really unsure really where my form was.
"It’s good to kick off with a result which I would say is okay, or good when you look at the circumstances. Of course I could have done a lot more, but hey we have two more races to go."
Meanwhile, the men's downhill competition, which will feature Ireland's Jack Gower, has been postponed to Monday after high winds on Sunday forced two hours of delays.
"Due to the present weather situation with the wind gust and the updated forecast - the jury together with the organiser have decided in the best interest of safety and fairness for the racers to delay today's men's Olympic downhill to another day," organisers said in a statement.
📣DOWNHILL RESCHEDULED 📣
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) February 6, 2022
The Men's Downhill competition at the Winter Olympics #Beijing2022 has been rescheduled to Monday 7 Feb at 12 noon local time (4am 🇮🇪)#TeamIreland’s Jack Gower will now refocus and prepare for tomorrow’s race ☘️ pic.twitter.com/RRRrpZxRwL
The men's downhill will take place in between Monday's scheduled women's giant slalom, which will be held in two stages on the technical course adjacent to 'The Rock' speed course.
The rescheduled event will begin at 4am, with Gower set to be the 37th starter.
Similar wind in the upper and middle areas of the course had led to the cancellation of Saturday's third training session after just three skiers had completed their run.
Tomorrow, Irish downhill skiier Tess Arbez goes in the women's slalom from 2.15am Irish time and Elsa Desmond in the luge from 11.30.
Watch daily highlights of the 2022 Winter Olympics on the RTÉ News channel at 3pm, with clips of the action on RTÉ Sport Online, the RTÉ News app and RTÉ Sport's social media channels
