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Until today, 493 skiers from 21 nations have registered to start either the 50km or the 25 km of China’s Vasaloppet. More precisely: 261 are going to ski two loops, hence 50km and 232 skiers are going for the halfmarathon. Another 1500 participants are expected for the 2 km race called Vasa Fun Race, most of them are local students.

Vasaloppet China is included in the China Tour de Ski as third stage. This tour consists out of five stages, held in Yanji, Changchun and XiWuQi. Among the athletes are participants in national and world championships, and even in the Olympic Games. Holly Brooks, USA has taken part in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014), is a former American champion in the ski sprint (2011) and has several big wins on her record, such as the American Birkebeiner and Austria’s Dolomitenlauf. On the man’s start list we find an interesting athlete from Venezuela, undoubtedly a premiere for China Tour de Ski. Cesar Baena has been a regular face in the world championships since 2009.

Last year’s winner of FIS Marathon Cup, Czech Petr Novak signed up late and is now the favorite to win men’s category in Vasaloppet China. Other competitors to mention are Torin Koos, a 35 year old American who has skied in the past four (!) Olympic Games and who is also a multiple national champion. Koos is still going strong as he won the 2015 American Birkebeiner over 54km. Canada’s Graham Nishikawa is another skier to watch out for. The next participant to mention is Hannes Larsson from France who has finished unbelievable 26 Worldloppet Master races and Jan Vadlejch, ISR who has done it 23 times. 

The surroundings are covered with a thin layer of natural snow and gives a real winter feeling. As usual the whole ski tracks are done by artificial snow and the track team and some early arrived foreign skiers report very good conditions on the 25 km long loop. The weather is a bit cloudy with moderate temperatures of -4 degrees Celsius.

The weather forecast for the race day, January 4th, says -14 to -16 degrees Celsius during the night and early morning hours, then increasing up to -9°C when the sun rises. There will be gentle breezes, up to 5 m/s but it seems to become a very sunny and nice day for the participants and spectators.

By the way: The huge snow sculpture park in the arena had an official opening ceremony on New Years Eve and gives the arena a marvelous setting which will be memorable for the skiers.