Petra Forslund is an athlete who has always enjoyed XC skiing. This year's Vasaloppet was Petra's seventh, having completed three Vasaloppet races 20 years ago, four over the last four years.

Petra was extremely determined to get a medal in last year's Vasaloppet, she tried so hard that she had no strength left in Evertsberg and in Oxberg her motivation had run out. The goal became unattainable. This year, she set her sights once again on  a medal. Petra talked with the Racefox team about her performance in this year's Vasaloppet.

How did you feel before the race?

Before the race, I felt great. I've been healthy all winter and skied 800k on snow. I couldn't have prepared better. I made a lot of progress in my performance over the season. Myfirst race with Racefox was Bodenloppet 2017. At that time, my Ski Power averaged 285 (371 on 100 best). This year, my overall average was just over 400 and the top 100 over 600.

I was so excited to see such an improvement! However, I knew that my endurance capacity might not be enough in bad weather. That's why I felt really hopeless when I realized that the weather was going to be a repetition of the 2019 Vasaloppet. That was a really tough race for me.

I resigned myself to not getting a medal this year and changed tactics. My goal was to keep up with other participants in my starting group and avoid energy-intensive detours in the loose snow.

What are your comments on the race?

It was crowded and difficult to make use of my attack and core power, which I had trained and improved a lot. At Evertsberg I was far behind last year's time, which was part of the plan.

After Evertsberg the race got better. It had stopped snowing and was icy in some sections. The speed increased a lot and in several places there were trails to ski in. The double-poling worked well and I even got some rest in the downhill slopes. In Oxberg, I caught up with last year’s time and in Eldris I could even see that I was seven minutes ahead of last year's time at 8:08. Then my motivation came back. I realized I was going to finish in 8 hours!

After that, I was able to cut another six minutes off my time thanks to lots of powerful double poling. I actually skied Eldris - Mora a little faster than my record time 2018.

How did it feel after the race?

It felt good given the circumstances. I felt much better than after last year’s race.

 

What could you have done better?

Not much. The weather was overwhelming , but I kept a steady pace throughout the race. I was able to save energy for the end when I realized I would finish in 8 hours if I sped up a little bit - and I succeeded!

The double-poling worked well where it was possible to use double-poling technique. With all the fresh snow and fewer tracks it was usually a long queue of skiers. Bypasses would take too much energy.

 

How do you rate this year's performance?

I have mixed feelings. My goal has always been the performance medal. The medal time this year was 7:01. I finished in 7:54:57.

When I set my personal record in 2018 at 7:05:30 I was only 600 meters from the medal. Then the trails were extra tough to ski due to a whole week of very cold temperatures. I think I can do better next year, if the blizzards stay away.

After analyzing my statistics and comparing it to previous years, I feel quite satisfied. In terms of placement, this is my best result and I kept up with starting group five with a larger margin than in 2019. In fact, it is a whole 100 placements better than at the race 2018, even though I had a better time then. Bad weather takes a toll on exercise times.

Any lessons learned?

You can’t do anything about the weather, just deal with it and keep fighting.

 

How do you look upon the future?

I'm making another attempt at medal 2021. Surely, it can't be a blizzard three years in a row?