Ida Dahl won all the Season XIV’s competitions in Ski Classics before Christmas. On New Year’s Eve, the 26-year-old from Team Engcon makes her Tour de Ski debut.

Ida Dahl has impressed during the beginning of the season. At the Bruksvallarna Premiere, she came fourth and fifth and showed that she maintains a high level even in traditional cross-country skiing.

But it is the long-distance skiing and Ski Classics that are her main focus. Currently, she is undefeated after three competitions in the Ski Classics Season XIV.

Dahl and Team Engcon won the Pro Team Tempo in Bad Gastein, and in the individual races, Dahl was the strongest of all women in both Bad Gastein Criterium and La Venosta Criterium:

“I am very happy with the way I started the season. My form has been good; also, the service team has done very well with the skis. Really nice to have had this start to the season,” says Dahl to Langd.se, who, the day after the victory in La Venosta, made her World Cup debut in the Davos freestyle race.

Dahl finished 16th place at Davos, and it was after the good result that the discussions about a possible place in the Tour de Ski showed up:

“I had some idea I would be asked to race the Tour, but nothing was clear until just before Christmas. It feels great and exciting to be asked the question. At the same time, Ski Classics is my main focus this season, so I don’t want my results there to be negatively affected by skiing the Tour. And I don’t think it will,” says Dahl.

What made you decide to accept the invitation to the Tour de Ski?

“I have talked a lot with my coach Mattias (Reck). If I hadn’t done the Tour, I would have had to put in a period of hard sessions. Now we rearranged the training so that I skied more in the last few days, and the races in the Tour will be the speed I want to get.

Have you ever considered ​​racing the World Cup and Tour de Ski before this season started?

“No, I have absolutely not had a thought about it. But it feels like a receipt that it went well and a fun Christmas bonus.”

What is the goal for Tour de Ski?

“It’s hard to say. I hope to get a top-15 position if I have a good day. I don’t really have any expectations for the sprint. I raced classic sprints two years ago and skate sprints a while ago. But we do a lot of hard sessions, then it will be interesting to see how it will be if I get on from the prologue to the heats,” says Dahl.

After the Tour de Ski’s final stages in Val di Fiemme, Ida Dahl will join Team Engcon’s preparations for the Ski Classics weekend in northern Italy (Pustertaler Ski Marathon and Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge) a week after the end of Tour de Ski.

Another Pro Tour athlete is also racing at the Tour de Ski 2022/2023. Astrid Øyre Slind, Team Aker Dæhlie, will start for the Norwegian National Team.

Read More: Sweden’s Team For Tour de Ski 2022/2023

Photo: Ida Dahl made her World Cup debut in Davos before Christmas. Now she has been named for the Tour de Ski.