Vasaloppet

Vasaloppet is an annual long distance (90 km) cross-country ski race (ski marathon) held on the first Sunday of March in northwestern Dalarna, Sweden between the village of Sälen and town of Mora. It is the oldest, one of the longest, and in popular consideration the biggest cross-country ski race in the world. In the 80th race, held on 7 March 2004, some 15,500 skiers competed in the main event. More than 40,000 participated in one of the seven different races held during the first week of March. The race was first run in 1922, inspired by a run by King Gustav Vasa in 1520. The winner of the first race was Ernst Alm from Norsjö, 22 years old, who is also the youngest ever winner of the race.

Legend

In 1520, the young nobleman Gustav Ericsson Vasa was escaping from the troops of Christian II, king of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (the Kalmar Union). Much of the Swedish nobility was in opposition to the king, and had nicknamed him Christian the Tyrant. In a move to silence the opposition, Christian invited the Swedish aristocracy to a reconciliation party in Stockholm, only to have them, including Gustav's parents, massacred in what came to be known as the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Danish and Swedish kings have on a few occasions ordered murders of their opponents, but that has never been tolerated. (Christian II and Erik XIV did that, but they soon had to leave their position as king).

Gustav was escaping through Dalarna, fearing for his life if he were discovered by the king's troops, when he spoke to the assembled men of Mora and tried to convince them to raise a levy and start a rebellion against King Christian. The men did not want to fight while escaping on skis, and Gustav started toward Norway to seek refuge. He was caught at Sälen by two Mora brothers on skis. The men in Mora had changed their minds after hearing that the Danish rulers had decided to raise taxes, and they now wanted Gustav to lead the rebellion. On 6 June 1523, Gustav Vasa was crowned king of Sweden, having defeated the Danish king Christian and dissolved the Kalmar Union. Sweden has been fully independent ever since.

World cup race

• The Swedish Vasaloppet is included in the Worldloppet Ski Federation, a series of long distance cross country ski races.

• In 2006, the Vasaloppet was included in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup; a large complement of World Cup racers joined the men's field for the full 90 km distance. Owing to the distance—40 km longer than the longest race usually skied in the World Cup—as well as the proximity to the just-concluded Olympic Games in Torino, the race was again dominated by long-distance specialists rather than World Cup racers. Daniel Tynell won the race, just ahead of Jerry Ahrlin, while Anders Aukland - who has skied on both the Norwegian national World Cup team and in marathons like the Vasaloppet - finished third.

The women's World Cup Vasaloppet was held over 45 km the previous day, rather than being integrated with the full Vasaloppet. Marit Bjørgen of Norway won easily, though the field included only World Cup racers, since the marathon specialists chose to race in the full-distance event the next day.

Vasaloppet week

The week preceding Vasaloppet is known as Vasaloppet week. Races held during this week include:

• KortVasan (short - 30 km)
• TjejVasan (ladies - 30 km)
• HalvVasan (half - 45 km)
• Öppet spår (non-competitive 90 km)
• StafettVasan (relay 90 km)
• SkejtVasan (free technique 30 km and 45 km).
• Vasaloppet (90 km)

Winners

Statistics

A few facts about the male winners through the 2007 race:

Nils 'Mora-Nisse' Karlsson has the most titles, with 9. Janne Stefansson (7), Jan Ottosson (4), Arthur Häggblad (4), Bengt Hassis (3), Oskar Svärd (3) and Daniel Tynell (3) are the only other racers with more than two titles. Six men have two titles.

The average winning time is 5:11:38 (a per-kilometer average of 3:28). The record winning time is 3:38:57 (2:26 per kilometer), set by Peter Göransson of Sweden in 1998. Only nine winners have finished in less than four hours. The ten fastest times include eight Swedes, one Norwegian, and one Swiss; only Oskar Svärd appears more than once in the list of the ten fastest times. Of the ten fastest times, two occurred in the 1980s, three in the 1990s, four in the 2000s and one in the 2010s.

1. 1998: Peter Göransson (SWE) - 3:38:57
2. 2004: Anders Aukland (NOR) - 3:48:42
3. 1986: Bengt Hassis (SWE) - 3:48:55
4. 2005: Oskar Svärd (SWE) - 3:51:47
5. 2011: Jörgen Brink (SWE) - 3:51:51
6. 1992: Jan Ottosson (SWE) - 3:57:04
7. 1983: Konrad Hallenbarter (SWI) - 3:58:08
8. 2003: Oskar Svärd (SWE) - 3:58:23
9. 2002: Daniel Tynell (SWE) - 3:58:52
10. 1996: Håkan Westin (SWE) - 4:01:15

Average times per decade have declined in each ten-year span, with the sharpest drop between decade averages occurring in the 1960s, for which the average winning time was 31:45 faster than the average winning time of the 1950s. The average winning time in the 1970s was 16:07 faster than the 1960s, the 1980s average was 24:09 faster than the 1970s, and the 1990s average was 13:06 faster than the 1980s. The average winning time in the 2000s is only 2:18 faster than the 1990s, however. As of 2011 the average winning time so far in the 2010s is 12:12 faster than the 2000s.

Sweden - the most winners

Sweden is the most prolific producer of winners, with 74 titles (including two all-Sweden ties, in 1928 and 1988), or 90% of the 82 contested races. (The race was canceled in 1932, 1934, and 1990). Norway has produced three winners: Ole Ellefsæter, 1971; Anders Aukland, 2004; and Jørgen Aukland, 2008. Two countries have produced two winners: Finland (Pekka Kuvaja, 1954; Pauli Siitonen, 1973) and Austria (Walter Mayer, 1980; Mikhail Botvinov, 1997). Five countries have produced one winner: East Germany (Gert-Dietmar Klause, 1975), the Soviet Union (Ivan Garanin, 1977), France (Jean-Paul Pierrat, 1978), Switzerland (Konrad Hallenbarter, 1983), and Estonia (Raul Olle, 2000).

Sweden won every race until 1954, when Pekka Kuvaja of Finland won the race. The next non-Swede to win was Ole Ellefsæter of Norway (1971), who kicked off a decade in which Sweden won just five titles and racers from five other countries won the five other titles. Sweden won 8 of the titles in the 1980s (Austria [Mayer, 1980] and Switzerland [Hallenbarter, 1983] each won one title in that decade), and 8 more in the 1990s (Austria won one more title in that decade [Botvinov, 1997], and the race was canceled once [1990]). In the 2000s, Sweden won seven races, Norway won twice (Anders Aukland, 2004; Jørgen Aukland, 2008), and Estonia won once (Olle, 2000).

Women's Winners

Women's winners have been received awards since 1997. Women were allowed to race, but did not receive awards, in 1922-23 and 1981-1996. The first woman was Margit Nordin in 1923. Women were banned from 1924 to 1980. The ban was introduced since it was considered bad for women's health to participate in such a competition. This ban was criticized especially after 1960. Some defended the ban saying that allowing women would reduce the reputation as a tough challenge. Several women have participated in the race during the ban, disguised as men.

Sister races

A sister race to the Swedish Vasaloppet is held annually on the 2nd Sunday of February in Mora, Minnesota, USA. The American Vasaloppet features a 13 km, 35 km and 58 km freestyle races, a 42 km classical race, and many other events in and around the town of Mora. Even a children's Miniloppet is held, with various lengths for the races so all children no matter what age can compete in a shorter race. The first place male and female racers in the 58 km freestyle race win a trip to compete in the Swedish Vasaloppet, or a thousand dollars prize money, (about the equivalent of the trip and entry fee for the Swedish Vasaloppet).

Vasaloppet Japan has been held in Asahikawa, Hokkaidō, since 1981.

The Chinese Vasaloppet has been held in Changchun since 2003.

The third edition of the Jonquière, Québec, Vasaloppet was held on 1 March 2009, and featured a 90 km race. It was held at the ski resort Le Norvégien.

See also

• List of Swedes in sports
• Tourism in Sweden
• Skiing and skiing topics

External links

• Vasaloppet - Official Swedish Site
• Vasa That! - A participant's story
• American Vasaloppet - Mora, MN, USA Race Site
• Interactive Map
• 3D animation of race - Requires Google Earth software.
• 2D View in Google Maps.
• Mora, MN: Mora, MN Vasaloppet Website