Vasaloppet's Winter Week 2017 in numbers – registration for 2018 opens on Sunday

Statistical summary of Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2017:

– Ten races over ten days attracted 66,582 registered participants from 63 nations. In comparison there were 68,024 registered in 2016, 67,126 registered in 2015, 67,435 in 2014, 66,212 in 2013, 63,142 in 2012, 59,161 in 2011, 57,560 in 2010 and 48,184 in 2009.

– 56,639 started and 2,156 aborted their races. 54,483 reached their finish (including the five sections of Stafettvasan), which means that this was the eighth year in a row that over 50,000 skiers reached the finish in Mora.

– 34.7 percent of those starting were women and 65.3 percent were men.

– The average participant age was 42 years.

– 89.1 percent of the participants came from Sweden and 10.9 percent from the other 63 nations.

– In total, 16 skiers were disqualified in Vasaloppet for using prohibited skiing technique, and one for obstructing another participant.

– 0 people were awarded a time penalty due to littering, and an estimate shows that there has been a 90 percent reduction in litter along the track compared to before this rule was implemented. There was more litter after Vasaloppet than after other races, but here too was a marked decline compared to previous years.

– Sveriges Television’s five-hour Vasaloppet broadcast on March 5 had an average of 1,861,000 TV viewers, which is the highest number since 2014. In addition there were 230,000 unique Vasaloppet viewers on SVT Play. 61,000 unique viewers also followed Brita Zackari and Mattias Svahn. In total 38.4 percent of the population (3,650,000 viewers) watched three minutes or more of the live broadcast that Sunday morning! Already at 07:30 there were 802,000 early bird viewers watching the initial half hour before the start. In the afternoon, when the race was summarized and recreational skiers were given extra attention for roughly an hour in Vinterstudion, there were 784,000 viewers.

– Tjejvasan, which for the sixth year in a row was live broadcast from start to finish, was watched by an average of 438,000 TV viewers, an increase of close to 80,000 compared to 2016. In total 965,000 people watched some part of the broadcast, which is 200,000 more than last year.

– Ungdomsvasan, which was broadcast live in Barnkanalen for the first time this year, was watched by an average of 60,000 TV viewers, and 179,000 saw at least three minutes of the broadcast.

– Vasalopps-TV, with live streaming, live studio, news clips and its daily summary, was viewed 341,000 times during the Winter Week.

– Vasaloppet’s website vasaloppet.se had 18 million page views and 1.5 million unique visitors during Vasaloppet’s Winter Week February 24–March 5.

– The app Vasaloppet Vinter 2017 had 96,322 downloads and participant monitoring was purchased 109,000 times.

– Norway x 3! For the second year in a row, three Norwegians took the top three spots in Vasaloppet. This year has been described as the tightest finish in Vasaloppet history, with four skiers finishing within the same second. Best Swede was Markus Ottosson in fourth place.

– Among other high-profile skiers who reached the finish in Vasaloppet were SVT host Stephan Wilson, 10.38.24, whose participation in Vasaloppet marks his first step towards En Svensk Klassiker; SVT’s skiing reporter Brita Zackari, who finished with a time of 11.39.49; TV4 host Peter Jihde, who together with, among others, Robin Bryntesson skied for diabetes awareness, finishing with a time of 8.24.50; sit-skier Aron Andersson, 8.34.33; celebrity photographer Bingo Rimér, 7.56.09; and chef Melker Andersson at 6.40.59. Former hockey player Calle Johansson skied Öppet Spår Monday with a time of 6.21.50 and Ylva Thörn, County Governor of Dalarna, finished Tjejvasan in 4.10.23.

– Fastest 50-year-old in Vasaloppet 2017 was Per-Olov Svahn, Boxholm, in 42nd place with a time of 4.05.38.

– Brian McKeever, Canadian Paralympian with only 10 percent vision, finished in 20th place (!) in Vasaloppet with a time of 3.59.49.

– Kristin Back Frisk, Vänersborgs SK, 9.25.16, became the eleventh lady to ever achieve the title of Vasaloppet veteran and Åke Davidsson, Borås, 8.46.56, and Bengt Andersson, Tidaholm SOK Sisu, 8.14.45, both completed their 50th Vasaloppet/Öppet Spår.

– 2,654 gentlemen and 149 ladies got medals in Vasaloppet. Those who finish within the victor’s time plus 50 percent receive the medal. The medal time in 2017 was 5.55.58 for gents and 6.29.35 for ladies.

– New races: Nattvasan ran in 2017 for the first time. 779 two-person teams came to the start and 705 reached the finish. Nattvasan was Vasaloppet’s fifth new race in four years: Ultravasan 45 and Ultravasan 90 were held at the Summer Week 2014 for the first time and 2015 saw the premiere of Cykelvasan Öppet Spår. Öppet Spår 9 km (which has now been renamed Blåbärsloppet) was introduced during the Winter Week 2016. The Summer Week 2017 will also have the first Vasakvartetten, a running relay race for four-person teams, which will be Vasaloppet’s sixth new race since 2014.

Registration for the 94th Vasaloppet on March 4, 2018, and the other races in Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2018 opens on March 19, 2017, at 09:00 on vasaloppet.se.

Over 19,000 are right now registered for Vasaloppet’s Summer Week 2017!

FACTS/Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2017

Sponsorships/late registrations sometimes make the actual numbers below higher than the maximum number of registered participants.

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In addition to the statistics above there is also Barnens Vasalopp for ages 3–10: In Sälen Barnens Vasalopp had 230 children participating, in Mora there were 570, and zero children broke off their race.

Much more facts, history, lists and charts about Vasaloppet can be found in  Vasaloppet’s Facts Guide 2017