Swedish text by Erik Wickström (langd.se), English text by Teemu Virtanen
The Toppidrettsvekan took place this weekend in Norway, and this three-day roller-ski event proved to be an intriguing case of one looming change that can now be detected occuring in Nordic skiing. Erik Wickström, a professional ski coach, a renowned journalist and an avid skier with a top 30-place at Vasaloppet and a victory at Engelbrekstloppet, the second biggest ski race in Sweden, wrote a though-provoking column on our affiliate Langd.se yesterday. You can read it here in a translated format and decide yourself if the shift is indeed waiting in the wings or has already materialized.
The fact that two long-distance skiers, Astrid Øyre Slind and Max Novak, won the 55-kilometer race in Hitra, Norway, on Thursday was no surprise. But it was the start of a new era.
This past weekend, Toppidrettsveka in Norway took place with a series of different roller-ski races. Like at any other major summer events such as Alliansloppet and Blinkfestivalen, we could see Visma Ski Classics athletes standing side by side with World Cup skiers on the starting line. Roller-ski races are much like ski races in the winter where the World Cup skiers beat the long-distance ones and vice versa.
That it would be a Visma Ski Classics skier who won both the women and men’s classes in the 55-kilometer-long race that opened Toppidrettsvekan was not in itself a sensation. But the symbolic value is much more significant. Perhaps, right after when Astrid Øyre Slind and Max Novak had cut the finish line before Johannes Hösflot Klæbo and the other national team members, the new era began.
Gradual increase in quality
Traditional skiing has, to some extent, always been more valued in Sweden (and in other countries as well), which thanks to Vasaloppet can still be seen as the nation that promotes long-distance skiing.
In the past, a large proportion of semi-retired elite skiers tried their wings in long distance skiing. Slowly but surely, the level and prestige have raised in Visma Ski Classics, and today there are probably very few World Cup skiers who have a chance to keep up when Lina Korsgren speeds up in a race or when Emil Persson conjures up his amazing sprint before the finish. Of course, there are exceptions, such as Ebba Andersson’s victory at Vålådalsrennet in March this winter.
Unknown to the public
Although there is some notion in Sweden that long-distance skiers are as “good” as the national team members, Visma Ski Classics athletes are not the big stars that the public knows well.
One only needs to go out on the town and ask if they know Lina Korsgren, Britta Johansson Norgren, Ida Dahl, Emil Persson, Oskar Kardin and Max Novak as opposed to Frida Karlsson, Ebba Andersson, Charlotte Kalla, Linn Svahn, Calle Halfvarsson and Oskar Svensson.
With all due respect to the La Diagonela winner Oskar Kardin, who finished third in the overall cup, I think only a few customers at ICA (a Swedish grocery store chain) in Kristianstad have heard of him.
TV makes a big difference
The reason for this ignorance lies not only in the fact that traditional skiing is included in the Olympic, FIS World Championship and World Cup programs (the fact that long-distance races are not included there is a story of its own). The wide exposure on the national television is likely to be an even bigger factor. The winter studio has been a smash hit (a hosted TV show in conjunction with live sports broadcasts).
This winter, I think the pendulum will swing. The World Cup mostly disappears from the “free channels” to the pay channels in Sweden, Norway and Finland, while Visma Ski Classics starts to be broadcast on SVT in Sweden and continues to be broadcast in NRK in Norway. This should make long distance skiers real stars in the public eye.
Bjørgen and Northug step into the long distance arena
A further argument in favor of the fact that we will experience a paradigm shift where public interest shifts towards the long distance races can be seen in the results lists behind Øyre Slind and Novak.
In third place in the aforementioned long distance race at Toppidrettsveka, we see Marit Bjørgen, one of the world’s all-time best winter sport athletes, is now seriously entering the long-distance circuit. We have to scroll a little further down to find the real superstar on the men’s side, but we can now expect Petter Northug to draw a lot of attention as he enters Visma Ski Classics.
The national teams will always be popular and Championship and Olympic medals will always be prestigious, but there comes a time soon when the public interest is more focused on long distance ski races. The ignition set off this weekend.
