By Teemu Virtanen
Trollhättan in Sweden has been a busy location for a few days now. Cross-country skiers from all over the world have competed against each other in various roller-ski races, and a lot of spectators have enjoyed the unique atmosphere that this event can offer. Tomorrow is the final day, and the main event Alliansloppet is the one that everyone is eagerly waiting for.
This 48-kilometer roller-ski race has attracted an impressive field of World Cup skiers and Visma Ski Classics athletes. The 16-kilometer lap will be used for three times, and the course is relatively easy for these top skiers. In addition to the elite group, recreational skiers have their chance to participate and test their roller-skiing capacity against the best skiers of the world.
In the men’s race, the podium skiers in the 15 km race yesterday are strong favorites; Marcus Grate, IFK Umeå, Emil Persson, Lager 157 Ski Team, and Caller Halfvarsson, a member in the Swedish National Team. Of these three, Persson is most suited for long distance skiing and extensive double-poling is his strong suit.
Team Ramudden’s skiers Max Novak and Johannes Eklöf, the Orsa2Levi podcast guest tomorrow, can easily be on the podium and even win the race. Particularly Novak, who has performed extremely well throughout the roller-ski season this summer. He finished 4th yesterday, but he had to ski by himself without getting any help or drafting from anyone.
Team Eksjöhus is also really strong. Their young recruit Axel Jutterström finished 6th yesterday while the experienced Morten Eide Pedersen was right behind him with his 7th place. Tomorrow, these two skiers will be reinforced by their third male member Ari Luusua from Finland.
Team Ragde Charge is always a force to be reckoned with, even if their biggest star Andreas Nygaard is not racing tomorrow. The forever-young Anders Aukland finished 15th in the 55 km race at Toppidrettsvekan last weekend, and he can be among the ten best skiers at Alliansloppet. His teammates Kasper Stadaas and Karstein Johaug, Therese’s brother, are certainly worth paying attention to.
The reigning Visma Ski Classics Champion Emil Persson may get some help from his Lager 157 Ski Team members. Runar Skaug Mathisen finished 12th yesterday and he was the first one to start the race, thus skiing without knowing much about what happened behind him. Marcus Johansson was not as successful as his teammates, but on a good day, he has the ability to shine.
Stian Hoelgaard from Team Curira is certainly a name that can grace the top end of the result list since his capacity and skills are known to everyone. In yesterday’s race, he was about a minute behind the winner, but a mass start race is a whole new ball game.
What about the World Cup skiers Calle Halfvarsson, Oskar Svensson, William Poromaa, Hugo Lapalus, Jules Lapierre, Adrien Backscheider and Jean-Marc Gaillard? They will fight tooth-and-nail, but the course suits double-poling experts much better, and presumably the winner will be from the Visma Ski Classics circuit. But it also could be Alfred Buskqvist from Sweden, who is a roller-ski specialist, and double-poling is his cup of tea.
The women’s race will be much like the men’s one where long distance skiers will most likely dominate. However, Emma Ribom’s quite superior victory yesterday must have given her a great confidence boost, but the other two podium skiers Lager 157 Ski Team’s Hanna Falk and Britta Johansson Norgren know how to manage a longer distance.
For Falk, long distance skiing is still a new trade, but she has trained intensively with her team solely focusing on the business at hand. It’s good to see Johansson Norgren back in shape after a challenging winter, and she can be the number one tomorrow. These two skiers are not the only ones from their team that can outperform everyone as Thea Krokan Murud has the power and stamina to do so. She didn’t race yesterday, which could be an advantage.
Team Ramudden has two of the last season’s best skiers Lina Korsgren and Ida Dahl, and they may cook up a tactic that can turn out to be too much to bear for everyone else. Linn Sömskar from Team Eksjöhus didn’t race yesterday, and she now has a year of experience in long distance skiing, which gives her a great asset when fighting for top positions.
Alliansloppet starts tomorrow at 11:45 am CET for elite men and 11:55 am CET for elite women. The open classes for recreational skiers are earlier in the morning.
More info at https://www.alliansloppet.se
