Ebba Andersson may have won Janteloppet, but the experience was anything but joyful. The Swedish World Championship queen is simply furious and frustrated—and she’s not holding back.

“How can you go from the kind of marketing they had earlier to step-by-step deprioritizing the women’s class? On the way there yesterday, I was told there would be no prize money in the women’s competition. That we would be racing in the recreational class with no prize money,” the Swedish World Champion fumed.

Feels deceived, cheated, and undervalued

Originally, Ebba Andersson and the other women in the elite class were supposed to race 40 kilometers and compete for a prize pool of half a million NOK. Then came the message that there would be no elite class for the women, but that they could instead participate in a 20-kilometer show race.

The registered athletes were offered a refund of their entry fee or the chance to participate in the 20-kilometer Janteloppet, a race tailored to recreational skiers.

The prize money was also withdrawn. There were zero kroner in prize money for the 20-kilometer race. The athletes were only informed of this the night before the race. At the last minute, the organizers decided to put up 60,000 NOK in prize money for the women—far from the original prize pool. Meanwhile, the men competed for the full original amount.

Andersson feels deceived, cheated, and deprioritized. She’s strongly critical of the process and the communication from the race leadership.

“It’s okay that the distance was shortened. But then there’s been this back-and-forth about the prize money, which they had marketed heavily. And then yesterday I was told that there would be no prize money in the women’s competition. That we would be racing in the recreational class with no prize money,” Andersson told VG.

“I’m quite critical of this. How can you go from the kind of marketing they had earlier to step-by-step deprioritizing the women’s class?”

Too few participants and too low a level

The organizers say there were too few registered in the women’s elite class and that the level of several participants was too low.

The World Champion went straight to the organizers to voice her opinion—and she did not hold back.

“It’s completely unacceptable. They say it’s about not having enough registrations on the women’s side,” Andersson said.

“But the reality is there aren’t as many female skiers as male skiers in cross-country skiing. We have bigger start fields on the men’s side in the World Cup too, weekend after weekend. When the organizer acts like this, you start to wonder whether the value of us women participating is seen as equal.”

She felt the women were step-by-step deprioritized—and ultimately moved to the recreational class.

Defending the Decision

General Manager of the Janteloppet, Pål Trøan Aune, acknowledges the criticism but defends the decision they made.

“We understand that it can feel unfair and wrong. I have no problem understanding that,” he tells VG.

“Unfortunately, that’s just how it is. It’s both good and bad that we made the choice to move athletes to another class and change the prize money. The reality is that there was record-low interest. So we have to deal with the consequences of that as well. What we’re going to do is enter into a dialogue with the women, to ask why we only managed to get 14 female elite-class entries and find out where we went wrong,” says Aune.

He also points out that almost all those registered in the elite class wanted to race the 20-kilometre distance when the elite class was cancelled.

Also Read: Northug shrugs off criticism after Janteloppet: “What criticism?”

Aiming to Set a New Standard for Cross-Country Skiing

Janteloppet is Petter Northug’s signature event. He helped establish the race in 2018, initially with Red Bull as the main sponsor. When the controversial Austrian energy drink giant pulled out in 2023, Northug took 100% ownership of the event.

He then launched a bold relaunch with a new concept—more spectacular and more inclusive than any other ski race. In 2024, the race served as the Ski Classics Grand Finale. This year, Northug pulled the race out of the prestigious long-distance ski series. Together with his new wealthy investor Reda El Chaar, he relaunched Janteloppet once again—this time offering a total prize purse of one million Norwegian kroner.

Ten Million in Prize Money

As Northug and his sponsor El Chaar see it, cross-country skiing won’t become a sport on an international scale until athletes can make a living from it—and a good one. Only then can they focus 100% on becoming the best, without needing to take part-time jobs or study to fund their careers.

That’s why the duo is advocating for a major increase in prize money compared to today’s levels.

Their long-term goal is to establish a new race series consisting of three to four races over the course of about a month, spread across various locations in Norway and Central Europe. The total prize pool is set to reach 10 million Norwegian kroner.

Last fall, Northug joined the German long-distance race König Ludwiglauf. El Chaar hopes that they’ll be able to host a Grand Prize race as early as 2026.

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