The 27-year-old became the undisputed World Championship queen and is the top favorite for Olympic gold. Yet she is ruling herself out of the overall World Cup victory and is disappointed with the development of cross-country skiing.

Ebba Andersson was the queen of the World Championships in Trondheim last March, where she claimed three gold medals out of a possible four and finished fourth in the 50km. She also took three out of four gold medals at the Swedish national championships last winter.

The Swedish star has already been pre-selected for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano/Cortina, where she is a strong favorite in all distance events.

Also Read: Five Swedish cross-country skiers confirmed for the 2026 Winter Olympics

Nevertheless, she has ruled herself out of the overall World Cup title and is disappointed with how the sport is developing.

The reason is simple: the competition schedule is highly unfavorable to her.

“I had hoped that traditional cross-country skiing would have preserved more of what has been the standard in the past,” she told SVT.

Favors the sprint specialists

As a dedicated distance skier, next season’s calendar offers little to celebrate. Nearly 40 percent of the competitions are sprints.

“That means I’ll have to carefully consider how I prioritize my race weekends. It doesn’t mean I won’t race much, but I’ll be minimizing the number of race weekends,” she says.

This week, Ebba Andersson announced that she has signed with the Ski Classics Pro Team, Team Engcon.

Also Read: Team Engcon presents team lineup: long-distance star missing

“Costs more than it’s worth”

The Swede has no fond memories of the sprints she has raced and has gained some experience in that area.

“First of all, I’ve struggled to qualify for one of the six sprint spots we get during a normal World Cup weekend. Also, I’ve realized that racing sprints, which I’m not particularly good at, costs more than it’s worth. I really have to think carefully about which basket I put my eggs in,” she says.

Even though last season ended with three World Championship golds out of four possible, it also included two tough periods for the Swedish ski star.

Also Read: Reveals: Paid a high price for success

Has identified two focus areas

Now, Andersson has had time to evaluate things thoroughly and has identified two specific areas she wants to put extra effort into ahead of the Olympic season.

“Last year, I focused more on upper-body training. That paid off, and upper-body strength is very important in today’s cross-country skiing,” she says, and continues:

“That’s definitely going to be part of the puzzle this season as well. I’ll also keep adding other elements I want to improve.”

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