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On Sunday, March 6 at 08:00 in Sälen, it’s time for the start of the 98th Vasaloppet – 100 years after the first race in 1922. Vasaloppet is fully booked, which means 15,800 registered participants. In total, more than 50,000 participants have so far registered for Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2022 races. Here are all the conditions for this year’s edition of the world’s largest cross-country ski race.

Vasaloppet Quick Facts

• DATE: Sunday, March 6, 2022
• START: Vasaloppet start, Berga By, Sälen
• START TIME: 08:00
• FINISH: At the new finish line portal at the belfry in Mora
• DISTANCE: 90 km, classic technique
• SPECTATORS: Yes, welcome back again!
• FIRST RACE: Sunday, March 19, 1922
• CANCELLED: 1932, 1934 and 1990
• THIS IS RACE NUMBER: 98
• RULING CHAMPION: Tord Asle Gjerdalen, Norway, and Lina Korsgren, Sweden
• MAXIMUM NUMBER OF REGISTRANTS 2022: 15,800
• RECORD NUMBER OF STARTING PARTICIPANTS: 15,709 started in 2010
• MOUNTAIN PRIZE: Evertsberg 47 km
• OTHER SPRINT PRICES: Smågan 11 km, Mångsbodarna 24 km, Risberg 36 km, Oxberg 62 km, Hökberg 71 km, Eldris 81 km

Have a look at Vasaloppet’s history

Gustav Eriksson’s adventure in Dalarna took place during the winter of 1520–21. In 1523 he was elected King of Sweden. The first Vasaloppet took place in 1922. This year will see the 98th Vasaloppet, which is also the 26th with a special competition class for women (started in 1997). Three races have been cancelled: 1932, 1934 and 1990. Since 1948 the race has always run on the first Sunday of March, except in 2015 when the race ran on the second Sunday because of the World Ski Championships in Falun.

The first live TV broadcast of Vasaloppet took place in 1966. This will be the 45th time that Vasaloppet (in part or in its entirety) is transmitted live, and it’s the 40th time that the Vasaloppet start is broadcast live on television. 1973 was the first year with a live broadcast in colour. Since 1992 Vasaloppet has been shown live every year.

In 2021, Vasaloppet ran as two elite competitions with 73 starting women and 245 men. Fast and icy surfaces and a strong tailwind contributed to record times. Norway beat Sweden among the men and Sweden beat Norway among the women: Tord Asle Gjerdalen won ahead of Anton Karlsson with the new record time of 3.28.18. The women also got a new record time when Lina Korsgren with 3.52.08 took her third Vasaloppet victory. Marit Bjørgen came second in her comeback after a three-year hiatus.

Since 1922 a total of 600,421 Vasaloppet skiers have completed the 90-kilometre Vasaloppet; put together they have covered a distance equal to 1,348 round the world trips or 70 journeys to the moon and back. The average finishing time for the 600,421 participants can be counted as 7.58.27 (average) or 7.54.13 (median).

Vasaloppet’s average skier

In Vasaloppet 2022, the average age is 44.1 and the average participant has skied Vasaloppet 4 times before.

Of the registered Vasaloppet skiers in 2022, 65 percent have skied Vasaloppet before. 35 percent are skiing Vasaloppet for the first time. 17.5 percent of the registered participants in the track on Sunday are women.

Vasaloppet’s winners

The men’s victors of the last nine years have all come from Norway, while the last five women’s victors have been from Sweden. Three previous winners are in the elite group this year: Anders Aukland 2004, Andreas Nygaard 2018 and Tord Asle Gjerdalen 2021. Three of the women’s winners in recent years are also in the elite group this year: Laila Kveli 2013 and 2014, Britta Johansson Norgren 2017 and 2019 and Lina Korsgren 2018, 2020 and 2021.

Only eight different men’s victors and four different women’s victors have managed to defend their Vasaloppet win the next year. Most recently, John Kristian Dahl 2017 and Lina Korsgren 2021. Only nine times in the men’s class (since 1922) and four times in the women’s class (introduced in 1997) has the person who finished second in Vasaloppet won the race the following year.

Last year’s results at Vasaloppet

Vasaloppet 2021, men
1 Tord Asle Gjerdalen, Norway, 3.28.18
2 Anton Karlsson, Sockertoppen IF, 3.28.543 Ermil Vokuev, Russia, 3.29.19
4 Emil Persson, Östersunds SK, 3.29.54
5 Ari Luusua, Finland, 3.29.57
6 Johan Hoel, Norway, 3.29.57
7 Oskar Kardin, 3.29.59
8 Maxim Vylegzhanin, Russia, 3.30.01
9 Karstein Johaug, Norway, 3.30.02
10 Morten Eide Pedersen, Norway, 3.30.07

Vasaloppet 2021, women
1 Lina Korsgren, Åre Längdskidklubb, 3.52.08
2 Marit Bjørgen, Norway, 3.52.50
3 Ida Dahl, IFK Mora Skidklubb, 3.57.07
4 Thea Krokan Murud, Norway, 3.57.24
5 Katerina Smutná, Czech Republic, 3.58.24
6 Emilie Fleten, Norway, 3.58.28
7 Britta Johansson Norgren, Sollefteå Skidor IF, 4.00.12
8 Jenny Larsson, 4.04.07
9 Linn Sömskar, IFK Umeå, 4.04.08
10 Sofie Elebro, Östersunds SK, 4.05.26