Vasaloppet

The course

Skiers leave from Berga, a village just south of Sälen in western Dalarna, and head east to Mora, in the middle of the province, about ninety kilometres away. Eight stations are spaced along the way: Smågan, Mångsbodarna, Risberg, Evertsberg, Oxberg, Hökberg, Eldris and finally Mora. Gustav Vasa is said to have travelled the same ground in the opposite direction, from Mora towards Sälen, so the race is skied backwards along his route. Track conditions vary a lot from year to year, and the stretch after Eldris is lit for those still out after dark.

From flight to race

In the winter of 1520 to 1521 the nobleman Gustav Ericsson Vasa was on the run from soldiers loyal to Christian II, who then held the thrones of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. After the killings in Stockholm that took his parents' lives, he made his way through Dalarna. The men of Mora first turned down his appeal for a rebellion, then changed their minds and sent two brothers, Lars and Engelbrekt, after him. They found him at Sälen. Gustav was crowned King of Sweden on 6 June 1523. Almost four centuries later, in February 1922, Anders Pers of Mora proposed a ski race in memory of that escape, and the first one was run that March.

Race week

The days before the main event make up Vasaloppet's Winter Week, which holds fifteen races in classical or free technique. There is a thirty kilometre race and a forty-five kilometre one, a relay over the full distance, a night race for individuals or pairs, and Ungdomsvasan for children and teenagers. Öppet spår is the non-competitive version of the ninety kilometre course. Tjejvasan, added in 1988, is for women. The main race itself closes the week, on the first Sunday of March. Since 1979 Vasaloppet has belonged to the Worldloppet series of long-distance races, and it is also part of the Ski Classics cup.

Women on the track

Margit Nordin of Grängesberg became the first woman to take part, in 1923, finishing in just over ten hours to cheers and flowers. Arguments followed, and from 1924 women were barred from the race until 1980. Officials said the distance was harmful to their health, while others claimed that letting women in would soften the race's reputation as a hard test. Some women skied anyway, dressed as men. In 1978 Birgitta Westhed and Britt Dohsé used wigs, a moustache and a beard, made up by theatre artists from Gothenburg, and Westhed gave a television interview during the race. Awards for women winners began in 1997.

Wreaths and the finish

The kranskulla is a young woman chosen each year to hang a laurel wreath round the winner's neck at the finish, wearing the folk costume of Dalarna. Since 1988, when the women's race Tjejvasan began, a male kransmas has been appointed too. Both serve as ambassadors for the race through the year. Over the finish line in Mora stands a portal carrying the race's motto in Swedish, I fäders spår för framtids segrar. The first finish was only a white board between two flagpoles. A grander portal followed in the second year, and it was made permanent in 1986, since when it has been a landmark in the town.

How Vasaloppet is kept

The main race sets off at eight in the morning from Berga, south of Sälen, and finishes in Mora about ninety kilometres later. Eight stations line the route. Ropes are stretched across the track at seven of them, at fixed times, to turn back anyone who cannot reach Mora before the finish area shuts at 8:15 in the evening. Past Eldris the course is lit, and skiers are expected to have gone through that point before dark. At the finish the kranskulla, in Dalarna's folk dress, lays a laurel wreath on the winner.

When and where

Vasaloppet is held every year on the first Sunday of March. The week leading up to it is filled with shorter and longer races, from a thirty kilometre event to the full ninety kilometre distance. The first edition took place on 19 March 1922.

The route runs through the province of Dalarna in Sweden: it begins at Berga, just south of Sälen in the west, and ends in Mora in the central part of the province. The race is a Swedish institution, and its strongest following is at home, though Norwegian skiers have a long record in it and entrants come from many other countries.

What Vasaloppet means

For those who organise and ski it, the race recalls Gustav Vasa's winter journey through Dalarna and his later coronation as King of Sweden. The kranskulla in folk dress ties the event to older customs of the province, and the permanent portal at the finish in Mora has become a landmark the town treats as its own. Finishing the course, however slowly, is understood as a test of endurance rather than a contest only for the fastest.

Questions people ask about Vasaloppet

See also

CujuAn ancient Chinese kicking game played without hands using a stuffed or air-filled ballBullfightingA ritual contest between a bullfighter and a bull, kept in Spain and Latin AmericaKambalaAn annual traditional buffalo race across muddy paddy fields in southwestern IndiaChovganAn equestrian team sport played with mallets and horses across Iran and Azerbaijan

Good reading and sources

• Vasaloppet on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.