Facts, statistics, news and trivia for the 93rd Vasaloppet

– This is the 93rd Vasaloppet, and the 21st with a women’s competition class. The first Vasaloppet was on Sunday March 19, 1922. (Three races have been cancelled: 1932, 1934 and 1990.) Since 1948 the race has always been run on the first Sunday of March, except for 2015 when it was moved due to the World Ski Championships in Falun.

– The first live TV broadcast of Vasaloppet took place in 1966. This will be the 40th time that Vasaloppet (in parts or in its entirety) is live transmitted, and it is the 35th time that the Vasaloppet start is broadcasted live on television. 1973 was the first year with a live broadcast in colour. Since 1992 Vasaloppet has been shown live every year. Vasaloppet and SVT’s current broadcasting agreement extends until 2020.

– Vasaloppet 2017 was fully booked in four minutes when registration opened in March 2016. This means 15,800 registered participants. The record number of starting participants is from 2010 when 15,709 people took on the challenge. (But 2016 saw the record number of registrants: 16,502.) 2017 is the fifth year in a row where over 66,000 participants have registered for the various races in Vasaloppet’s Winter Week.

– Registration for the ski races in Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2018 opens on Sunday March 19, 2017, at 09:00 on vasaloppet.se.

– For the fourth year in a row, over 2,000 women have registered for Vasaloppet, which means about 14 percent female participants out on the course this Sunday. In Öppet Spår this year 25 percent of the participants were women. In the whole Vasaloppet Winter Week 2017, with all ten races included, 63 percent are men and 37 percent are women.

– Vasaloppet 2017 has participants from 43 different nations, counting Sweden. About 3,400 of the registered participants come from other nations than Sweden, most from Norway (1,145). Then come Denmark (555), Finland (554), Czech Republic (197), Germany (190), Switzerland (142), Estonia (130), Italy (71), Austria (70), Russia (69), Iceland (63), the Netherlands (43), and France (40). In total the Vasaloppet Winter Week 2017 has over 7,200 international participants from a record number of nations. Counting Sweden, we have 59 nations according to the latest statistics.

– The ten biggest Swedish counties in Vasaloppet 2017, according to this week’s statistics, are: Västra Götaland 2,492 participants, Stockholm 2,336, Dalarna 737, Skåne 722, Jönköping 662, Uppsala 588, Östergötland 578, Västerbotten 522, Värmland 407 and Halland 402.

– The average age in Vasaloppet 2017 is 42.0 years and the average participant has previously skied 3.8 races.

– Vasaloppet is asking all participants to wear a red cap in honour of Nils ”Mora-Nisse” Karlsson (1917–2012), who won Vasaloppet more than anyone else. This is because 2017 marks 100 years since ”Mora-Nisse” was born and the red cap was one of his hallmarks.

– In Vasaloppet 2016 the winners were John Kristian Dahl, Norway, (with a time of 4.08.00) and Katerina Smutná, who competed for Austria last year but this year has returned to representing the Czech Republic (her winning time was 4.17.56). The latest Swedish male victor was in 2012 (Jörgen Brink) and the latest female victor was in 2011 (Jenny Hansson). The male winners these past four year have all been from Norway.

– In 2016 there were three Swedish men and five Swedish women in the top ten of Vasaloppet: Markus Ottosson was 6th, Jerry Ahrlin 7th and Oskar Kardin 10th. Britta Johansson Norgren was 2nd, Lina Korsgren was 3rd, Sara Lindborg was 6th, Emilia Lindstedt 7th and Kristina Roberto 10th.

– Britta Johansson Norgren, who won Tjejvasan this past Saturday, has been second in Vasaloppet three years in a row. Only eight times in the men’s class (since 1922) and two times in the women’s class (which started in 1997) has the participant who came second in Vasaloppet won the race the next year. The latest silver medalists who came back and won Vasaloppet were Staffan Larsson who came second in 1998 and won in 1999, and Laila Kveli who was second in 2012 and won in 2013. (In 2016 Stian Hoelgaard was second in Vasaloppet’s men class.)

– In 2013 Jörgen Aukland became history’s first Vasaloppet winner to pole his way through the whole race without using grip wax (since skate was prohibited). In 2014 Laila Kveli became the first lady to win without grip wax.

– In the men’s class some past Vasaloppet winners are participating in the elite group of Vasaloppet 2017: Anders Aukland, winner 2004 (born 1972-09-12), Jörgen Brink 2010, 2011, 2012 (born 1974-03-10), John Kristian Dahl 2014, 2016 (born 1981-03-27) and Petter Eliassen 2015 (born 1985-12-01). In the women’s class two previous winners are in the elite group; Laila Kveli 2014 and Katerina Smutná 2016.

– Some real supermen can be found in the elite group: Stanislav Rezác, Czech Republic, participates in Vasaloppet for the 19th time. (He’s been in the top ten thirteen times and the top three six times, but no win. He has been in the top 10 these past seven years! 9th in 2016.) Jerry Ahrlin participates for the 15th time. (Eight times in the top ten, four in the top three, but no win. 7th, and second best Swede, in 2016.)

– Ernst Alm, who in 1922 won the very first Vasaloppet, is the youngest male victor. He was 22 years and 18 days when he won (born 1900-03-01). The oldest Vasaloppet victor is Jörgen Brink who was 37 years, 11 months and 23 days when he won in 2012 (born 1974-03-10).

– The highest number of years between a victor’s first and last win is 10 years (”Mora-Nisse” Karlsson 1943–1953).

– Most Vasaloppet victories: Nils ”Mora-Nisse” Karlsson (9 wins), Janne Stefansson (7 wins), Arthur Häggblad and Jan Ottosson (4 wins), Oskar Svärd, Daniel Tynell and Jörgen Brink (3 wins).

– Sofia Lind has most victories (four) in the women’s class (1997, 1999, 2004 and 2005). Sofia Lind was also the top woman in 1996, the year before Vasaloppet’s official ladies class was introduced.

– Youngest and oldest Vasaloppet winners amongst the ladies, since the official women’s class was introduced in 1997, are Sofia Lind (born 1975-09-04) and Svetlana Nagejkina (born 1965-02-02). Sofia Lind was 21 when she won in 1997 and Svetlana Nagejkina was 37 when she won in 2002.

– This year’s Kranskulla is Lydia Sundin (Kranskulla #93) and the Kransmas is Linus Rapp (Kransmas #29), both from Mora.

– Since 1922 a total of 548,316 Vasaloppet skiers have completed the 90-kilometre Vasaloppet; put together they have covered a distance equivalent to 1,231 round the world trips or 64 journeys to the moon and back!

– Every Vasaloppet skier loses an average of three kilos during a race, which means that about 21,000 Vasaloppet skiers are ”missing” after the 92 races.

– The smallest margin between the male and female victors was in 2007 when Elin Ek was only 4 minutes and 49 seconds after the male winner Oskar Svärd. She was then the 92nd skier to finish. Best placement in total for a lady was Justyna Kowalczyk from 2015, who was 71st to cross the finish line. Britta Johansson Norgren was 89th in 2015.

– 56 men have won the 92 races. Once there was a shared victory, in 1988, when Örjan and Anders Blomqvist skied together over the finish line with the Kranskulla Karin Värnlund in their arms.

– The first prize this year has been raised for both the male and female winner to 93,000 SEK. (The first prize is now raised by 1000 SEK each year.) The winners also get a trophy, a garland and a kiss!

– There are seven spurt prizes for both men and women: 10,000 SEK for the spurt prize in Evertsberg (The Hill Prize) and 5,000 SEK at the six other checkpoints; Smågan, Mångsbodarna, Risberg, Oxberg, Hökberg and Eldris. Vasaloppet’s total prize sum for 2017 is over 550,000 SEK.

– The current record time for men is 3.38.41 (Jörgen Brink, 2012) and for women 4.08.24 (Vibeke Skofterud, 2012). A victor breaking either record will, this year, not receive a car but rather Vasaloppet awards a record bonus of 50,000 SEK.

– In 2016, 3,308 men and 151 ladies were awarded with Vasaloppet’s achievement medal, which is awarded to those who finish within the winning time plus 50 percent. For the gents the medal time was 6 hours, 12 minutes and 0 seconds and for the ladies it was 6 hours, 26 minute and 54 seconds.

– Vasaloppet has different number series for the different start groups. The men’s elite group have start numbers 1–300; the ladies’ elite have start numbers starting with 500. Start group one has start numbers 1000–1499 etc. Ladies have yellow number bibs and start numbers 17000–19500, and Vasaloppet veterans (those who have skied over 30 races) have orange number bibs and start numbers 30001–30349.

– The top skiers in the cross-country cup Visma Ski Classics also have coloured vests in Vasaloppet: the top man (Tord Asle Gjerdalen) and top lady (Britta Johansson Norgren) in the overall cup Visma Ski Classics Champion wear yellow vests. Leader of the sprint cup Visma Ski Classics Sprint (Andreas Nygaard) wears a green vest. Leader in the youth cup (lady/man up to 26 years of age) Visma Ski Classics Youth (Stian Hoelgaard and Svenja Hoelzle) wear pink vests.

– Visma Ski Classics have spurt prizes in Mångsbodarna and in Evertsberg.

– The top in Visma Ski Classics Champion (yellow leader vest) right now are, men: 1) Tord Asle Gjerdalen, NOR, 1164 points. 2) Morten Eide Pedersen, NOR, 855 points. 3) Stian Hoelgaard, NOR, 763 points. 4) Andreas Nygaard, NOR, 745 points. 5) Petter Eliassen, NOR, 702 points. Top Swede is Fredrik Byström in 9th place with 505 points after placing seventh to fifteenth in all races this winter.

– Ladies: 1) Britta Johansson Norgren, SWE, 1285 points. 2) Katerina Smutná, CZE, 1270 points. 3) Astrid Öyre Slind, NOR, 878 points. 4) Sara Lindborg, SWE, 850 points. 5) Emilia Lindstedt, SWE, 702 points. (The winner of each race gets 200 points, second place gets 170, third 140, fourth 120 and fifth 100. Thereafter 95, 90, 85, 80, 75 and so on down to 1 point for 50th place.)

– Vasaloppet is the ninth race in Visma Ski Classics 2017. Afterwards four competitions remain: Birkebeinerrennet (54 km) in Norway on March 18, Årefjällsloppet (55 km) on March 25, Reistadlöpet (50 km) in Norway on April 1 and Ylläs-Levi (60 km) in Finland on April 8.

– Celebrities out on the course on Sunday:
Robin Bryntesson, former elite cross-country skier, working for children with diabetes
Peter Jihde, television presenter TV4, skiing with Bryntesson for diabetes research
Andreas Dackell, Olympic medalist in ice hockey 1994
PM Nilsson, political editor for Dagens Industri
Brita Zackari, presenter for SVT/training profile (i.hate.working.out)
Stephan Wilson, presenter for SVT (”Stephans klassiker”)
Jesse Wallin, DJ/radio personality for Mix Megapol
Malin ”Praktikant-Malin” Stenbäck, presenter for Mix Megapol
Paolo Barilla, Italian former race car driver with 10 F1 races, and pasta king
Melker Andersson, chef
Paul Svensson, chef
Aron Anderson, adventurer, inspirer and lecturer, using sit-ski
Anders Olsson, multiple winner in swimming at the Paralympics, using sit-ski

– Swedish Television (SVT) broadcasts Vasaloppet live in SVT1 and SVT Play 07:30–13:15, in the winter sports programme Vinterstudion 16:00–16:30 and in an online exclusive broadcast (”Brita Zackari-cam” with Mattias Svahn’s waxing shed) 07:30–20:00. For the third year in a row Yvette Hermundstad will welcome the viewers to the start in Berga by. Jacob Hård and Anders Blomquist are commentators for the race.
Elite skiing reporter: Henrik Eriksson (Vasaloppet winner 2001)
Elite reporter: Maria Wallberg
Exercise reporter: Markus Granseth (Barnkanalen personality)
Reporters: Kalle Moraeus and Cecilia Ingman
Meteorologist: Pia Hultgren
Skiing reporter: Brita Zackari
Studio expert and waxing shed reporter: Mattias Svahn

– In addition to SVT, Vasaloppet 2017 is also live broadcasted on NRK Norway, TV2 Denmark, YLE Finland, TVP Sport Poland, Česká televize Czech Republic, Sport TV Slovenia and FOX Sports (Malta, Greece, Israel, Cyprus, the Netherlands). Recaps will be shown on Eurosport Europe and Eurosport Asia. News reports on SRG SSR Switzerland and ARD Germany.

– Visma Ski Classics Live Center will broadcast Vasaloppet live online on March 5 with English commentary. Can be seen worldwide at a cost of 4.99 euro.

– Vasaloppet 2017 will be live broadcasted both in Vasaloppsradion (vasaloppsradion.se) and, of course, on Radiosporten in Sveriges Radio P4.

– Last year an average 1,826,000 viewers watched SVT’s five-hour-long Vasaloppet broadcast. The finish was watched by 2,800,000 people. In total 37 percent of the population (3,509,0000) tuned in to see at least three minutes of the live broadcast that Sunday morning! 729,000 viewers got up as early as 07:30 to watch the initial half hour before the start.

– Vasaloppet’s website vasaloppet.se had a record number of visitors during Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2016: 22 million page views and 1.5 million unique visitors. Vasaloppet’s live stream at vasaloppet.se had a total of 200,000 viewers during Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2016 and Vasaloppet’s own programme Vasalopps-TV had 120,000 viewers on YouTube.

– Vasaloppet veterans are those who have skied the race thirty times. After Vasaloppet 2016, a total of 970 Vasaloppet veterans have skied 30 or more Vasaloppet and/or Öppet Spår. 25 of these veterans have skied 50 races or more. Bengt Eriksson, Sälens IF, has skied the most races; 60 in a row 1953–2013 (6 of which were Öppet Spår). Börje Karlsson, Landsbro, has skied the most ”real” Vasaloppet races, 58, and this year he is skiing his 59th Vasaloppet.

– Mikael Kulanko, IFK Mora SK, is skiing all the Winter Week races (!) wearing a Superman costume.

– This summer the Vasaloppet Summer Week will be held for the ninth time: Cykelvasan (mountain bike), Ultravasan (running), Vasastafetten (running relay race for ten-person teams) and the new Vasakvartetten (running relay race for four-person teams) with over 17,000 registered participants so far.

– In 2016, 32 participants completed Vasaloppstrippeln; that is, participated in the full-length skiing, cycling and running races: Vasaloppet or Öppet Spår, Cykelvasan 90 or Cykelvasan Öppet Spår and Ultravasan 90. Vasaloppstrippeln is a challenge completed during a calendar year. The best combined time from 2016 was for Tomas Stöt from IFK Mora: 17 hours, 34 minutes and 27 seconds.

– Each participant in Vasaloppet’s Winter Week drinks about 0.8 litres of Ekströms blueberry soup. Together, in 2016, they drank 39,800 litres of Ekströms blueberry soup, 37,700 litres of sport drinks, 11,300 litres of vegetable bouillon and 2,500 litres of coffee at the seven food checkpoints. Also consumed were 100,000 Vasaloppet buns, and after the finish some 800 litres of fruit juice. For all this, 700,000 paper cups are needed, all of which are recycled to become new paper products.

– The Vasaloppet track is a nature reserve and this year Vasaloppet has taken serious measures to rectify the littering that has occurred along the tracks during races. If a participant is caught throwing litter they will be given a time penalty of 15 minutes. Vasaloppet has given out the following regulations: ”During Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2017, throwing litter will be permitted in three different ways: In the bins at the Vasaloppet checkpoints; In the marked littering zones between each Vasaloppet checkpoint; Where you as a participant know that a team leader or associate will pick up what you throw.” For elite skiers, special dialogue has been held and each team will be responsible for, and pick up, any waste that is thrown along the track by team skiers. Vasaloppet’s competition jury consists of TD Claude Matthey (Switzerland), assistant TD Magnus Elmkvist, RD Robert Peets (Estonia) and competition director Bo Johansson.

– Vasaloppet’s operations annually generate about 20-25 million SEK for the sports movement, of which about 50 percent goes to the owning clubs (IFK Mora and Sälens IF), about 30 percent is compensation to clubs who supply functionaries, and about 20 percent is in the form of fees to the Swedish Ski Association and Swedish Cycling Federation, which in turn is distributed to their sports clubs.

Inquisitive minds can find more facts, history, lists, charts and trivia about Vasaloppet in Vasaloppet’s Facts Guide 2017 (in Swedish only):
VASALOPPETS FAKTAGUIDE 2017