In 2013, Jörgen Aukland made history by being the first double-poling winner of the legendary Vasaloppet. 19 years earlier, Staffan Larsson was the first elite skier (at least to have had a prominent role in the race) to double-pole between Sälen and Mora. But the fact was that this Mora based skier had completely different plans for the winter of 1993-94. He was aiming for the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. 

– Some club mates of mine and I were out running. We were running over a small bridge that was a bit loose. So, when I jumped on it and landed with my leg fully extended, I broke my leg.  As I was sitting and waiting for my transport home, I still thought that I would be able to go to Ramsau for the training camp the following week. It was a huge shock when the doctors told me about the broken leg, Larsson reminisces about that fatal day. 

The tenacious skier did not give up, and while still at the hospital, he decided to debut at Vasaloppet and go double-poling all the way. 

– I’ve never trained so much in my entire life as I did during those months. I used a special handicap sledge for strength training, and on January 3, I was able to ski for the first time. 

A few weeks later, he won a Vasaloppet seeding race, Evertsbergsrännet, and secured an elite start position at Vasaloppet. A couple of weeks later, he had no problems in staying with the lead group at Skinnarloppet.  

– Those races built up my confidence, and I realized that I could have a chance at Vasaloppet. Perhaps, even win. But it wasn’t something that I told anyone.  

When the race started, Staffan Larsson was the fastest skier on the first part of the climb while his rivals went diagonal striding up the hill.   

Staffan Larsson saw the starting hill as by far the most challenging part of the race, and together with his father Hans-Erik he had tested the hill a week earlier (his father was a former World Cup skier and also an elite Vasaloppet racer in 1994). 

– That test with my father made me understand that I could manage the hill and that I wasn’t going to lose much time, says Larsson, who caught up with the leading duo after Smågan, the first service station, and before Mångsbodarna about 20 kilometers into the race, the double-poling hero broke away. 

Larsson had carried an extra pole on his back since the start of the race, and once on the loose, he threw that away. 

– I was afraid to break a pole on the first hill. If I had done that, the race would have been over. I actually had the goal of being the first to Mångsbodarna.  

In Evertsberg, about a half way through the race, he was 1:42 minutes ahead of the closest competitor. When he was still in the lead on the famous Lundbäcksbackarna climbs, about 30 kilometers to go, he began to believe in victory. 

That was not to be as a trio led by the eventual winner Janne Ottosson caught up in Hökberg, and with 16 kilometers left to go, Larsson had to give in. He finished 5^th about four minutes behind the winner. His double-poling effort was certainly a sign of things to come. 

– No one thought this was possible, and I was considered a fool back then, but I think I changed everyone’s mindset. I thought at the time that my biggest chance of winning Vasaloppet would be with kick wax, and even after that 1994 race, I wasn’t ready to focus completely on double-poling. By the time I reached my last season as an elite skier, double-poling had begun to break through. 

Staffan Larsson won the prestigious race in 1999, became second in 1998 and 2001, and third in 1996 and 2000.