Before this year’s Vasalopp, Norwegian Emilie Fleten put pressure on last year’s winner Stina Nilsson as favorites, but also mentioned that she saw herself as one of the favorites. And when the race was over, she was the dominant winner.
“It was tough from start to finish,” Fleten tells SVT.
It snowed on the tracks overnight and on Sunday morning, which affected traffic. It wasn’t a fast race. Fleten’s winning time was just over half an hour slower than Nilsson’s in 2025.
The Norwegian drove the mansion for a long time, although she sometimes had the feeling that it was going very slowly.
– The men’s field was like a traffic jam that made me want to drive fast. I almost cried. “It felt like it was just standing still on all the slopes, and that’s when I planned to attack,” she says.
The 33-year-old took his third victory in the Swedish classic race. She also won in 2023 and 2024.
– I started to have doubts on the first slope when there was chaos and the fact that we were with the men’s field. There were a few descents where people fell and it was total chaos. Then you don’t love it. I love the leadership, but there was something special about the men’s progress being so slow.
Second in the race was Sweden’s Hanna Lodin, who was 1 minute and 37 seconds behind Fleten. She also thought it was special to ride with the boys for so long.
– It’s huge. “This is the biggest thing for me,” 26-year-old Lodin tells SVT about his first podium finish in Vasaloppet.
The Norwegian Anikken Alnæs crossed the finish line two minutes and seven seconds after Fleten and thus secured third place.
– Absolutely fantastic. “It was an incredible relief,” says Emilie Fleten about the feeling of starting the race with a good lead.
Last year’s winner Stina Nilsson came fifth and crossed the finish line four minutes after the winner.
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