Ida Dahl won two individual Pro Tour events during a season disrupted by illnesses. Here, the Swedish Pro Team athlete talks about changing coaches, recovering from a mycoplasma infection, and dreaming of the World Championships.

Ida Dahl entered Season XV as the reigning Ski Classics champion. After a solid start with victory in the Pro Team Tempo in Bad Gastein, two individual victories, and two-second places in the first four individual events, it was a brutal winter for the Team Engcon athlete:

“I felt good when I won in Toblach, but the following months after that, I actually felt terrible,” says Dahl to Langd.se.

In early March, she was diagnosed as having mycoplasma:

“I’ve had it once before, and I struggled for a year and a half before it got better, so I was mentally prepared for it to take time. But during the winter, it was mostly about enduring the season. But it was tough; my lungs were affected, I coughed a lot, and it didn’t feel like I was getting any oxygen,” says Dahl, who a few weeks ago started training again with a focus on the coming season.

“Now I feel that it’s not my lungs that are limiting me; now it’s more about my poor fitness,” Dahl says with a laugh when Langd.se met her during Team Engcon’s first training camp of the season.

Also Read: Team Engcon for Season XVI

In recent seasons, Ida Dahl has worked with coach Mattias Reck, but now she is changing her training approach:

“I am very happy with our cooperation and must thank him for becoming so good. But I feel I need something new, to bring in a different kind of training philosophy, and try some other way of training with more variety.”

Who will plan your training in the future?

“I’ll be doing more on my own, and I’ll be discussing my training a lot with Jørgen (Ulvang, new Team Engcon Pro Team Director),” says Dahl, who, during the 2022/2023 season, alongside her success in the Ski Classics, had the chance to compete in a few World Cup races, including the Tour de Ski.

Next winter, the World Championships await in Trondheim, Norway. The program includes a 50km race, which should suit a long-distance skier like Ida Dahl very well:

“Ski Classics will definitely be my main goal, but it’s clear that I’m very interested in the World Championships 50km race. We are several skiers in Ski Classics who have made great strides also in the traditional distances, and not least in skating (which is the technique for the 50km race). I think it is partly linked to upper body strength on the women’s side.”

So, what will your race planning for the winter look like?

“As I said, Ski Classics is the main goal. But there is ‘only’ one race weekend in the Ski Classics before Christmas, and I like to compete, so I plan to start traditional races that fit my plan. I want to keep a consistent level over the winter, but I want to perform well at the ‘big four’ Grand Classics races. And I haven’t won Vasaloppet yet, which I really want to do,” concludes Dahl.

Read More – Team Engcon: Pro Team Director about Season XV