Tove Ericsson is one of Sweden’s most promising cross-country skiers. In the coming season, she will be fully committed to Ski Classics. “The training I will do for the long races will build the strength that I will also benefit at traditional racing,” says Team Engcon’s Ericsson.
Team Engcon presented its Pro Team for the Ski Classics Season XV, and Tove Ericsson, the 20-year-old Swedish, is one of the members.
Read More – Team Engcon For The New Season: “I’m Very Satisfied”
Tove won a relay medal in the Junior World Championships a year ago. At this year’s Junior Worlds, she was fifth and eighth in the distance races, took two silvers and a bronze at the Swedish Junior Championships, and finished fourth in the 30km race at the Swedish Championships, only behind Ebba Andersson, Jonna Sundling, and Emma Ribom.
On her debut in Ski Classics, she finished third at the Grönklitt Criterium:
“I didn’t expect it to go so well already in my debut,” says Ericsson, who also raced for Team Engcon.
And the Swedish Pro Team will be her ‘home’ for the next winter season:
“I’ve been thinking about it since I got the invitation to be with Team Engcon. I’m stepping up to become a senior in the traditional distances now, and to get out there and race the World Cup continuously, I will need to raise my level a notch. The fact that I now focus on long-distance skiing means that I get to go to many competitions internationally, and I think the training I will get here will give me the strength that can develop me a lot in a year. It is something that is required to go far even at the traditional distances,” says Ericsson, whose plan is to race long-distance for one season and then return to traditional cross-country skiing.
“I will keep training freestyle and diagonal. I think that will benefit me in all parts of skiing. And the reactions I got after I talked about my decision is that it’s going more and more in one direction, that it’s not so much either long-distance or traditional, but a combination. Many who have made a similar decision have received a real boost in all types of skiing,” says Ericsson, who will form the women’s squad in Team Engcon together with defending champion Ida Dahl and Hanna Lodin (most recently in Ski Team Göhlins, and second in the winter’s Youth competition).
What is the goal for the coming winter? Can it be the Pink Youth bib?
“We have high goals in the team, and I want to contribute there. As for my goals, I will try to ski as well as I can in all the races, and we’ll see,” says Ericsson with a smile.
More information about Ski Classics you can find at skiclassics.com.
Top Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus
