In the midst of the hustle and bustle of an Olympic Games, there was just one voice that stood out for James Clugnet: his mum.
The cross-country athlete took to the snow for his first event of Milano Cortina 2026 on day four in the men's classic sprint.
The 29-year-old was the first competitor to set off and finished 45th overall in a time of 3 minutes and 23.66, which was 16.29 seconds off the lead.
And despite not qualifying for the quarter-finals, Clugnet admitted that hearing the cheers of his mum was the rallying call he needed to enjoy every moment.
"I usually hate to start first in the World Cup because you get extra pressure with all the crowd screaming but it was awesome," he said.
"Even though there was everyone screaming I just heard my mum's voice saying 'go on James' which was pretty cool and a bit of extra motivation. It is still a special day and I am so happy to be able to start here.
"Although the result is not the best I still have two good races to look forward and so I will be building up to then and start as best as I can."
The sprint classic is quick and it is brutal. The 2026 sprint course sits at just less than a mile long (1,585 meters) with a combination of flat and hilly terrain.
Clugnet sat in 40th after 0.8km, the very position he finished in at his maiden Olympic Games in Beijing, but fell back following a difficult hill section.
"It was a bit of a tough race, and I don't think I had good grip," he said. "These are difficult conditions and you need to judge how much you need for grip and glide.
"It felt good but I needed to have the perfect race to be able to qualify and in the hills I lost a lot of time but went quite fast on the rest of the course.
"I am obviously disappointed but it was an awesome race.
"It's been a long time since I have enjoyed a major championships like this, maybe even since the European Youth Olympics so it is really nice."
Earlier in the morning, Anna Pryce narrowly missed out on qualifying for the women's sprint classic quarter-finals by 1.65 seconds.
After making her Olympic debut in the skiathlon earlier in competition, her 32nd place finish marked her best result of the Games so far, crossing the line in 3 minutes and 29.23 seconds.