Last Saturday’s Tjejvasan, Jenny Larsson finished twelfth and with the feeling she wanted to have a week left until Vasaloppet.

“I prefer to forget Tjejvasan. It was a dark day. It was tough mentally to get that race a week before the Vasaloppet. But I’m just trying to look ahead,” she says during Wednesday’s pre-Vasaloppet interviews.

Watch The Full Pre-Event Interviews Here With Some Of The Favorites For The Weekend: Vasaloppet Pre-Event Interviews Live On SC YouTube

Ski Classics Pro Tour XIV – Event 11: Pre-Vasaloppet Interviews

The Swedish Pro Tour athlete is fourth in the Ski Classics Champion standings Season XIV, and at Orsa Grönklitt, she was seventh on the Criterium and fifth at the ITT. But she had mixed feelings during the back-to-back competitions weekend.

“The weekend in Orsa was a bit mixed. Many factors played a role in going fast on skis, and Saturday was not at its best. The body did not feel great. But it was fun that it was a new race the next day and to start an individual race again.”

Larsson’s big goal for the season is just around the corner this weekend. She had the goal of getting to the top of the podium in Vasaloppet ever since she woke up from her hand surgery in March last year. At the same time, she is humble about what lies ahead.

“I am grateful to only be able to stand on the starting line on Sunday. It is difficult to tell if I can win already this year. As I said, I have a couple of bad weeks behind me, from Jizerská until now, and of course, it leaves a mark on your self-confidence. But it’s been feeling good the last few days, so you should never say never.”

Jenny has experienced during the season that she was a little behind in training and has therefore tried to have a good amount of training during the season.

“I knew beforehand that it would be up and down for me this season. Sometimes it has been difficult to balance training and competition well,” she adds.

To be able to challenge for victory, she feels that there are still things to work on and to be back to where she was before the injury.

“I feel that I have to continue working on the uphill, it’s something I’ve done a lot, but it hasn’t been the way I wanted it,” she says and continues:

“And I probably still miss that last inch of speed.”

In this weekend’s race, women and men will start simultaneously. Jenny thinks it could benefit her on Sunday.

“Marcialonga and Vasaloppet are races that suit me well. But it is important to be in good shape and have a good day to benefit from starting with the men. The strategy for all the women is to go all out from the start to give yourself a chance to be in; then, it usually calms down a bit after the first three kilometers.” 

In recent weeks, Jenny has changed her preparation to have a certain energy surplus, which she has felt has been lacking recently. Tjejvasan was a real challenge, and to compete in a race as long as Vasaloppet, it is necessary to have time to recover well.

“The feeling in Tjejvasan was the worst I’ve had all season, also in terms of the technical aspects. I was extremely tired the next day but had only skied 30km.” 

The fatigue, she believes, also had to do with the fact that the race was mentally exhausting.

“I feel that I got through it now and am prepared for Sunday,” Jenny Larsson concludes.

The Season XIV of Ski Classics Pro Tour consists of 14 events on 10 event weekends in 6 different countries. 

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XIV (2022/2023)

• Event 1: December 10, 2022 – Bad Gastein PTT, Bad Gastein, Austria, 15km
• Event 2: December 11, 2022 – Bad Gastein Criterium, Bad Gastein, Austria, 35km
• Event 3: December 17, 2022 – La Venosta Criterium, Val Venosta, Italy, 36km 
• Event 4: January 14, 2023 – Pustertaler Ski Marathon, Sexten, Italy, 62km
• Event 5: January 15, 2023 – Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge, Niederdorf, Italy, 32km
• Event 6: January 21, 2023 – Engadin La Diagonela, Engadin Valley, Switzerland, 48km 
• Event 7: January 29, 2023 – Marcialonga, Trentino, Italy, 70km
• Event 8: February 12, 2023 – Jizerská50, Bedrichov, Czech Republic, 50km
• Event 9: February 18, 2023 – Grönklitt Criterium, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 50km
• Event 10: February 19, 2023 – Grönklitt ITT, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 12km
• Event 11: March 5, 2023 – Vasaloppet, Sälen-Mora, Sweden, 90km
• Event 12: March 18, 2023 – Birkebeinerrennet, Rena-Lillehammer, Norway, 54km
• Event 13: April 1, 2023 – Reistadløpet, Setermoen-Bardufoss, Norway, 40km
• Event 14: April 2, 2023 – Summit 2 Senja, Bardufoss- Finnsnes, Norway, 67km

More information about the Ski Classics Pro Tour you can find at skiclassics.com.