By Teemu Virtanen

We are now approaching the tail end of the season, but there are still four exciting races left. The most prestigious ski race in the world, Vasaloppet, is now a thing in the past, and we can see the outcome of the race when looking at the current Visma Ski Classics ranking lists. That list is based upon the results achieved during a 24-month period.

Tord Asle Gjerdalen, Team Ragde Eiendom, is still leading the game in the men’s category while Britta Johansson Norgren, Lager 157 Ski Team, is the strongest lady. Gjerdalen’s teammate Andreas Nygaard is second and Team BN Bank’s Morten Eide Pedersen third. On the women’s side, Katerina Smutná, ED System Bauer Team is second followed by Lina Korsgren, Team Ramudden. Britta’s lead is quite extensive as she is 480 points ahead of Katerina. In the men’s competition, the fight is much tighter as Tord Asle has only 106 more points than Andreas. However, the latter will not race in Engadin Skimarathon, which means that Tord Asle has a great chance to get more points to his advantage.

Since the strong men in yellow, Team Koteng, performed so well in Vasaloppet, all of their skiers, except their team captain John Kristian Dahl, are now climbing up the ladder or remaining where they are. The winner Tore Bjørseth Berdal is now 10^th, Torleif Syrstad 12^th, Chris Andre Jespersen 21^st and Stian Hoelgaard stays 6th, which was secured by his silver performance in Sweden this Sunday. The other position climbers among the 20 best ranked skiers are Slavia Pojistovan Team’s Stanislav Rezac, 20^th in the ranking and 6^th in Vasaloppet, and Lager 157 Ski Team’s Anton Karlsson, 14^th in the ranking and 16^th in Vasaloppet.

Among the female pro skiers, the most notable ranking list climbers are Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes, Team Ragde Eiendom, 6^th, Maria Gräfnings, Team ParkettPartner, 12^th, Sofie Elebro, Team Ragde Eiendom, 14^th and Elin Molin, Lager 157 Ski Team, 17^th. A few of the top 15 skiers are going down on the list such as Justyna Kowalczyk, Team Trentino Robinson Trainer, Roxaine Lacroix, ED System Bauer Team, and Viktoria Melina, Russian Marathon Team. Of course, Justyna can easily improve her status if she decides to participate in any of the remaining races.

Among the top 30 male skiers, these are the ones whose ranking position is currently going downwards; Simen Østensen, Team BN Bank, Ilya Chernousov, ED System Bauer Team, Øystein Pettersen, Team BN Bank, Anders Høst, Team Serneke, Vetle Thyli, Team Kaffebryggeriet, Magnus Vesterheim, Team Kaffebryggeriet, Ermil Vokuev, Russina Marathon Team, and Bob Impola, Team Serneke. Of these skiers, Ermil has not raced in any of the Visma Ski Classics events since the prologue weekend in Livigno.

You can check out the current ranking lists at https://vismaskiclassics.com/results/ranking/