Vasaloppet

Vasaloppet is a long distance cross-country ski race (ski marathon) held in northwestern Dalarna, Sweden, annually on the first Sunday of March. It is the oldest, one of the longest, and in popular consideration the biggest cross-country ski race in the world.Fact|date=September 2007 In the 80th race held on March 7, 2004 some 15,500 skiers competed in the main event, which is held over a distance of 90 kilometres between the village of Sälen and town of Mora. A total of more than 40,000 participated in one of the seven different races held during the first week of March. The race was started in 1922 being inspired by the run that the future King Gustav Vasa had made in 1520. The winner of the first race was Ernst Alm from Norsjö, who is still the youngest ever winner of the race.

History

The traditional story is that in 1520 the young nobleman Gustav Ericsson Vasa was escaping from the troops of Christian II, king of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (the Kalmar Union). A large part of the Swedish nobility was in opposition to the king, even having nicknamed him "Christian the Tyrant". In a move to silence the opposition Christian invited the Swedish aristocracy to a reconciliation party in Stockholm, only to have them, including Gustav's parents, massacred in what came to be known as the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Danish and Swedish kings have at a few occasions ordered murders on their opponents, but that has never been tolerated.

Gustav was escaping through Dalarna, fearing for his life and discovery by the kings troops, when he spoke to the assembled men of Mora, trying to convince them to raise a levy and start a rebellion against king Christian. The men did not want to fight for those reasons so on his ski, Gustav Vasa started to make his way towards Norway, to find refuge there, when he was caught up at Sälen, by two Mora brothers on skis . The men in Mora had changed their minds after hearing that the Danish rulers had decided to raise taxes, and they now wanted Gustav to lead the rebellion. On June 6, 1523 Gustav Vasa was crowned king of Sweden, having beaten the Danish king Christian and dissolved the Kalmar Union. Sweden has been fully independent ever since.

In fact the story is probably just a fable as historical documents place Gustav Wasa in Gävle at the time of his supposed ski trip in Dalarna. But as with all legends its what people believe that is important.

Sister Races

A sister race to the Swedish Vasaloppet is held annually on the 2nd Sunday of February in Mora, Minnesota, USA. The American Vasaloppet features a 35 km and 58 km skate, a 42 km classical race, and many other events in and around the town of Mora. The first place male and female racers in the American Vasaloppet win a trip to compete in the Swedish Vasaloppet.

The Chinese Vasaloppet has been held in Changchun since 2003.

World cup race

*The Swedish Vasaloppet is included in the Worldloppet Ski Federation, a series of long distance cross country ski races.

*The Swedish Vasaloppet has on one occasion been included in the Cross-country skiing World Cup, but this was a flop.

Vasaloppet week

The week preceding Vasaloppet is known as Vasaloppet week. Races held during this week include:
* KortVasan (short - 30 km)
* TjejVasan (ladies - 30 km)
* HalvVasan (half - 45 km)
* Öppet spår (non-competitive 90 km)
* StafettVasan (relay 90 km)
* SkejtVasan (free technique 30 km and 45 km).

Winners

A few facts about the male winners through the 2007 race:
Nils 'Mora-Nisse' Karlsson has most titles, with 9. Janne Stefansson (7), Jan Ottosson (4), Arthur Häggblad (4), Bengt Hassis (3), and Oskar Svärd (3) are the only other racers with more than two titles. Six men have two titles, including current racer Daniel Tynell.

The average winning time is 5:11:38 (a per-kilometer average of 3:28). The record winning time is 3:38:57 (2:26 per kilometer), set by Peter Göransson of Sweden in 1998. Only eight winners have finished in less than four hours. The ten fastest times include eight Swedes, one Norwegian, and one Swiss; only Oskar Svärd appears more than once in the list of the ten fastest times. Of the ten fastest times, two occurred in the 1980s, three in the 1990s, and five in the 2000s.
1. 1998: Peter Göransson (SWE) - 3:38:57
2. 2004: Anders Aukland (NOR) - 3:48:42
3. 1986: Bengt Hassis (SWE) - 3:48:55
4. 2005: Oskar Svärd (SWE) - 3:51:47
5. 1992: Jan Ottosson (SWE) - 3:57:04
6. 1983: Konrad Hallenbarter (SWI) - 3:58:08
7. 2003: Oskar Svärd (SWE) - 3:58:23
8. 2002: Daniel Tynell (SWE) - 3:58:52
9. 1996: Håkan Westin (SWE) - 4:01:15
10. 2001: Henrik Eriksson (SWE) - 4:01:22

Average times per decade have declined in each ten-year span, with the sharpest drop between decade averages occurring in the 1960s, for which the average winning time was 31:45 faster than the average winning time of the 1950s. The average winning time in the 1970s was 16:07 faster than the 1960s, the 1980s average was 24:09 faster than the 1970s, and the 1990s average was 13:06 faster than the 1980s. The average winning time so far in the 2000s is only 2:27 faster than the 1990s, however.

Sweden is far and away the most prolific producer of winners, with 74 titles (including two all-Sweden ties, in 1928 and 1988), or 90% of the 82 contested races. (The race was canceled in 1932, 1934, and 1990). Norway has produced three winners: Ole Ellefsæter, 1971; Anders Aukland, 2004; and Jörgen Aukland, 2008. Two countries have produced two winners: Finland (Pekka Kuvaja, 1954; Pauli Siitonen, 1973) and Austria (Walter Mayer, 1980; Mikhail Botvinov, 1997). Five countries have produced one winner: East Germany (Gert-Dietmar Klause, 1975), the Soviet Union (Ivan Garanin, 1977), France (Jean-Paul Pierrat, 1978), Switzerland (Konrad Hallenbarter, 1983), and Estonia (Raul Olle, 2000).

Sweden won every race until 1954, when Pekka Kuvaja of Finland won the race. The next non-Swede to win was Ole Ellefsæter of Norway (1971), who kicked off a decade in which Sweden won just five titles and racers from five other countries won the five other titles. Sweden won 8 of the titles in the 1980s (Austria [Mayer, 1980] and Switzerland [Hallenbarter, 1983] each won one title in that decade), and 8 more in the 1990s (Austria won one more title in that decade [Botvinov, 1997] , and the race was canceled once [1990] ). In the current decade, Sweden has won five races, Norway has won twice (Anders Aukland, 2004; Jörgen Aukland, 2008), and Estonia has won once (Olle, 2000).

Women's Winners

Women's winners have been awarded since 1997. Women were allowed but without awarded winner in 1922-23 and 1981-1996, and banned 1924-1980. The ban was introduced after a woman did (??died in??) the race in 1923, and the management didn't think having women in the race was a good idea. This ban was criticized especially after 1960. Several women have during the ban participated in the race disguised as men.

ee also

*List of Swedes in sports
*Tourism in Sweden
*Skiing and skiing topics

External links

* [http://www.vasaloppet.se/ Vasaloppet] - Official Swedish Site
* [http://www.momtahan.com/vasa2007/ Vasa That!] - A participant's story
* [http://www.vasaloppet.org/ American Vasaloppet] - Mora, MN, USA Race Site
* [http://www.lumotic.se/maps/vasaloppet Interactive Map]
* [http://www.turrennklubben.no/skirace_info/Vasaloppet.kmz 3D animation of race] - Requires Google Earth software.
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://www.turrennklubben.no/skirace_info/Vasaloppet.kmz 2D View] in Google Maps.