Experience the Vasaloppet: A Journey Through Sweden’s Skiing Legacy

Worlds largest ski race

It became the time of the year again when it was time for Vasaloppet. The Swedish cross country race in the forests of Dalarna. 90 kilometers of skiing between the cities Sälen and Mora. I was in doubt if I should participate or not but around christmas I decided to do so. I knew skiing training would be very limited due to my winter is spent on Malta but honestly I would not be much faster in the tracks if I practice more skiing. To be better I would need to spend a lot of hours I am not interested in investing so doing it as a medium good participant is good enough for me.

Logistics nightmare

To travel to the skiing race is a logistic nightmare. If you don’t have your own cottage and someone who is not skiing and can drive. I tried to fly to Scandinavian mountain airport from Zürich. Had to change plane in Copenhagen but I spent the day with a walk at Amager beach in fantastic spring weather so it was not bad at all. Way better than taking train and bus from Stockholm. Unfortunately one of my bags got lost on the flight but I had all important stuff in my hand luggage and luckily my skis made it all the way. There were though a few families also with my flight from ZRH that got nothing with them on their skiing vacation. Felt very sorry for them. Next mission was to get from the new airport to the race number pickup. Luckily I could go with some other skiers from my flight to there where I met the people I stay with. Then it started, collecting race kit, handing in skis for waxing preparation, eating dinner, making final preparations, mingle in with the fellow skiers and sleep early. Some years we have been lucky so the river is frozen and you can walk over there to the start to hand in your skis at 04:30 but this year I didn’t wanted to risk a swim so I joined two new mates from my accommodation to drive around (thanks a million) so we had pre-race pepp and early morning coffee and breakfast in the car after queing outside for an hour before handing in our skis.

Ski preparation

My skis were prepared by former Olympian and gold medalist Jan Ottossson. He made a fantastic job and I had perfect grip upwards and was passing a lot of people in the downward slopes. Can strongly recommend. Website LINK. (not sponsored)

What to eat

Its all individual what to eat before Vasaloppet but one thing for sure, you cannot have enough energy. 90 kilometer is long and after I am usually hungry for days. I have read that the average skier lose 3kg during the race. The day before I had yoghurt and müsli for breakfast at home, a sallad on my SAS flight from ZRH to CPH, fika break with a delicious cinnamonbun at Coffe Lab Copenhagen , dinner with one portion of lasagna and sallad, one slice of bread, one portion of rice and chicken and an Ovomaltine bar just before beadtime.

The early skiing morning I had for the first breakfast nuts and a banana. For the second one coffee and an almond croissant. During the race I had in addition to the many cups of blueberry soup three bars. A lot of water to drink but luckily I never got thirsty. In the end I had bullion at one stop and coffee at another. Energy drinks I don’t do or gels but what I had this year worked great and never felt lack of energy.

The race

16 000 participants are lining up the first Sunday in March for the 90K race. It is culture in Sweden. Everyone knows what Vasaloppet is and part of sports history. There is more than a week of skiing races this time of the year and the Sunday race is the most famous one. Most people I know (although I have many sporty friends) would never ever dream about entering the start line but once you do it you either hate it for life or get addicted. This was my 8th time and I felt no regret standing at the start line this year. No pressure on myself due to very limited ski training I was just going to have a nice day in the forest. That was my goal. I am only a moderate skier but I know I finish.

First part of the race is the famous climb. Up, up and up. For about an hour. I took the right side like all other times and have to say it went pretty smooth. No broken poles and no falls around me or myself. Then off for real and time to see how the skis was performing. The glide was perfect so with a positive mindset I was taking off over the open fields. Of course there was no tracks. Around the 3000 first skiers get some kind of tracks the rest have to fight through snow. But it was dry snow making it not very heavy. I took it easy, stopped at all controls, had a bit of eats and drinks, took some photos and texted on my phone.

Had my new Garmin watch in race mode to reach my train and I was after half of the race around 30 minutes ahead of my “stress to the train” limit. It was really an enjoyable day this year. Loads of people out watching, spring in the air, sunlight and just like how you wish it to be.

Half way in to the race the most difficult climbs are done. After 7 times I knew the route pretty well and the second part with all downhills and where it is possible to only use the arms is my favorite one. With only two training sessions as preparation this year, one day 30-something kilometers and the other around 50K my expectations was low. The very last 30 kilometers I was extremely lucky.

A track making machine turned up and since it got a bit colder it was freezing rather quick and I felt like the elite does. It was just to stand in line and go with the flow. Easy. Enjoyable and just magic. If my arms would been tired it would of course been different feeling. Not to say I did not felt anything after 6-ish hours on skis but it was not very bad. All in all I would say I had a comfortable race from Sälen to Mora and finished in 8hrs 53 minutes as 662th female which I am very happy with. Most important was that I made it with the train back to Stockholm.

8th Vasaloppet completed and time was medium good for me. Fastest one was in 2017 but then I practiced a lot before. 2023 when I also practiced to a minimum since I also spent that winter in Malta was also a very good one from what I can remember. If I come back next year aswell? I really hope so. Would I practice more? maybe, maybe not. A few times on skis before is enough for me. To become a faster skier I know I need to put a lot of hours into training to do intervals and climbs but its not my preferred training so think I will skip it. I am happy to be a Vasaloppet finisher. A bonus this year was that I qualified to a better start corral for next year. Who could have thought?