On the glory trail

"I was told if I train hard and I achieve something, I could have a chance to represent our nation at the Winter Olympics. And that's what grabbed me," said Bullik.

"When I first arrived in Beijing to join up with the team, they did not ask me to totally quit cycling, and actually they said if I could manage the time, I could continue to race in cycling competitions. So, it's worked out perfectly."

Bullik began his switch to cross-country skiing in November 2018, and is finally up to speed after initially finding the going tough.

"I was used to being the best in cycling, so I have put in a lot of effort trying to become the best in cross-country skiing. After training with the team during the day, I need to go to the gym to level up my upper-body strength in the evening," Bullik added. "To keep up with the pace of the skiing team, I had to put in a lot of extra training at first."

Come February, all his hard work should be worth it.