This year’s race was won by Norwegians Torleif Syrstad and Emilie Fleten in the men’s and women’s races, respectively. Swedish 17-year-old Alvar Myhlback impressed and finished third in the men’s race.
29-year-old Syrstad broke away in the first mile of Vasaloppet’s centennial race on Sunday. He was soon followed by his compatriots Johan Hoel and Thomas Ødegaarden as well as the Swede Myhlback. The gap between the quartet and the rest grew rapidly. With two miles to go, Syrstad broke away and took the win.
– It feels absolutely fantastic. I have been dreaming about this for many years. I’ve always thought that one day it would be my day. Today it really was. Everything came together, said Syrstad.
Second was Norwegian Johan Hoel, followed by the young Swedish skiing phenom Alvar Myhlback, who at 17 is almost half the Norwegians’ age.
Winner cascades
Fleten, 31, also took the lead early in the race, but with two miles to go, the Norwegian cascaded, something she says was “terrible” and thought would decide the race.
– But Lina (team manager and former Vasaloppet winner Korsgren) saw me throwing up and gave me water to drink. That was important. Then the gap to the back was pretty big, but as a skier you don’t have much control. So it was only when I entered the run-up that I realized I was going to win, said Fleten.
Fleten also won the women’s race last year.
Norwegian Magni Smedås came in second, followed by Finland’s Kati Roivas. Sweden’s Karolina Hedenström finished fourth.
