{"id":235047,"date":"2025-10-23T18:40:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/235047\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T18:40:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:40:38","slug":"the-debutante-and-the-daredevil-introducing-blenheim-blue-blood-lady-araminta-spencer-churchill-and-handsome-skier-gabriel-gledhill-as-they-light-up-the-december-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/235047\/","title":{"rendered":"The debutante and the daredevil! Introducing Blenheim blue blood Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill and handsome skier Gabriel Gledhill as they light up the December issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

But for now, the focus is on cross-country skiing, often cited as the hardest sport, with athletes pushing their hearts and lungs to near maximum output (cross-country skiers record some of the highest VO\u2082 max values ever measured). Explosive upper-body power is required to pole uphill and leg strength to drive on climbs, as well as mental grit and, of course, the ability to cope with dangerous conditions.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not an easy sport at all\u2019\u00a0is Gabriel\u2019s deprecating take. \u2018Every part of your body is used at every second of your time on skis. It\u2019s very gruelling, but at the same time, it\u2019s an amazing sport if you want to get fit or enjoy nature.\u2019<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the training is intense and geared towards expanding oxygen capacity. Along with running, cycling and strength training \u2013 all while monitoring heart rate and lactate levels \u2013 there\u2019s also roller-skiing in the absence of snow. This involves clambering onto skis, cut short and fitted with wheels, then racing on asphalt. \u2018It\u2019s the closest thing you\u2019ll get to skiing,\u2019 Gabriel says. Training takes place all over the world \u2013 at camps\u00a0in the Italian Alps and the Pyrenees \u2013 then chasing snow: racing on a glacier in Norway, a ski tunnel in Sweden and, of course, Lillehammer\u2019s slopes. He follows a strict, nutritionist-approved diet. \u2018The more kilos you have on your body, the harder it\u2019s going to be when you go uphill. Your body is your workplace.\u2019<\/p>\n

Now, the Winter Olympics beckon. And yet, in what seems a particularly cruel way of doing things, Gabriel doesn\u2019t know for certain if he\u2019s going. He\u2019s on the Great Britain team with Andrew Musgrave, 35, and Andrew Young, 33, both of whom have competed at four Olympic Games, as well as Joe Davies, 24, who is simultaneously studying at the University<\/a> of Utah<\/a>, and James Clugnet, 29, who lives just up the road in Lillehammer. But as of now, Gabriel tells me, the team has only three spots confirmed for the Olympics and no word on which of the athletes will be assigned them. They will not find out until January \u2013 just weeks before the Games kick off<\/p>\n

\"Tough<\/p>\n

Tough and ready: Gabriel has his sights set on the upcoming Winter Olympics, hoping to represent Great Britain in a sport described as \u2018notoriously, almost inhumanly, exhausting\u2019. Above, both styled in Dolce and Gabbana Alta Moda<\/p>\n

Luc Braquet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But for now, the focus is on cross-country skiing, often cited as the hardest sport, with athletes pushing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75,5105,4419,7604],"class_list":["post-235047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-features","tag-magazine","tag-textaboveleftsmall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}