Johan Ericsson, a Swedish coach and student submitted a report from the 2008 Vasaloppet. Johan spent a year in the US as an assistant coach for Williams College.
The weather conditions were just around freezing, -1 to 1 degree celsius
and some inches of new snow the day and night before, and even some snow
during the race. Very difficult waxing conditions!!
The winner and many other elite skiers used neither klister nor hard
wax. Jerry Ahrlin of Sweden (3th) double poled the whole race (90K) on
skating skis and the winner Jörgen Aukland of Morway used the “rugg” skis
(hairies).
Jörgen Aukland said to Swedish national TV after the race:
– “I have been dreaming about this (winning Vasaloppet) since I was six
years old and watched it on tv.”
His brother Anders took second place – The first Norweigian double victory, and
only the third norweigian win in history.
In total close to 50,000 did a race during the Vasaloppet festival. About
16,000 skiers did the main race on Sunday. Registration for the
main race starts in April and is usually full in just a few weeks.
The hole race was broadcast live in both Sweden and Norway. In Sweden
about 25-30% of the population watch the race on tv, and it is the number one
headline in all newspapers the day after. It is the single most popular annual sport
event on TV in Sweden. “The Super Bowl on Nordic skis”, the winner earns similar sponsorships as the winner of the World Cup.
Videos from the race (only in swedish):
http://www.svt.se/vasaloppet
Here is the full race (5 hours long!):
Part 1: http://svt.se/play?a=1073163
Part 2: http://svt.se/play?a=1073166
30 US Skiers (registered as representing USA) did the main race:
position among US skiers – position in race – time – name
1 221 04:49:49 Andreas Halvorsen
2 244 04:51:18 Josh Smullin
3 1176 05:36:14 Cory Peter Berg
4 1403 05:46:15 Jonathan Rova
5 1688 05:59:01 James Agre
6 2384 06:18:58 Fredrik Marmsater
7 2705 06:27:59 William Bothe
8 2917 06:33:03 Jamie Mannion
9 3530 06:48:24 David Jorde
10 3829 06:57:25 Shaun Marshall-Pryde
11 3850 06:58:15 Peter Van Buren
12 4129 07:07:49 Chad Giese
13 4130 07:07:49 John Giese
14 4131 07:07:49 Torsten Arndt
15 4744 07:28:34 Per Hjalmarsson
16 5043 07:38:18 Peter Breu
17 5539 07:55:16 Dirk Mason
18 5540 07:55:17 Ben Neff
19 5867 08:06:47 Tomas Gedeon
20 6122 08:15:51 Greg Johnson
21 6178 08:18:02 Mark Nachbor
22 6784 08:37:43 Lars Andersson
23 7418 08:59:22 John Barton
24 7443 09:00:10 Stephen Swanson
25 7962 09:25:46 Marcus Engler
26 8006 09:27:11 Eskil Eriksson
27 8715 09:59:25 Don Becker
28 8716 09:59:26 David Balsiger
29 8736 10:00:18 Matthew Watkins
30 9055 10:16:35 Martin Simonsen
In addition (also from the US reprsenting Swedish club Vålådalens SK)
4 1069 05:30:19 Martin Breu
US women (only 1):
1 199 07:38:22 Jean Kjellstrand
