The Swedish Pro Team athlete was top-ten in several Ski Classics events during Season XIV. Now, Team Eksjöhus’ Frida Erkers aims to take the next step.

Four and a half months remain until the Ski Classics Season XV starts in Bad Gastein, Austria. Last season, the 31-year-old Frida Erkers was responsible for solid traditional cross-country skiing results during the Swedish Premiere at Bruksvallarna. The results were so impressive that she was named to the World Cup in Lillehammer (at the beginning of December), but illnesses prevented that:

“The traditional races showed that I have good capacity in the races where I ran “full body,” but the long races with double poling clearly showed that I need to increase my capacity in the upper body,” says Erkers to Langd.se during the Team Eksjöhus training camp in Eksjö a month ago.

“I was selected to go to the World Cup in Davos as well, but that was probably part of the season when it didn’t go well. Then if I look back on the season, it wasn’t a complete disaster; my goal was to be in the top 6, and I was seventh as the best result,” says Erkers.

Seventh place was achieved at Jizerská50. For the coming season, Team Eksjöhus has signed the Norwegian Marthe Kristoffersen as a coach, and there will be some changes in the training plan for Erkers (who was previously coached by Mattias Nilsson):

“Marthe and I have discussed a plan where I will work on increasing my upper body capacity. Last season I was at the front in the Ski Classics races for an hour, so I must improve that. To get there, I have put extra focus on strength during the spring to increase upper body capacity; then I will run many long threshold sessions on the SkiErg,” says Erkers, who debuted in Ski Classics in December 2021.

The upcoming season will be Frida Erker‘s third winter in the Pro Tour circuit.

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XV (2023/2024)

• Event 1: December 9, 2023 – Bad Gastein PTT, Austria, 15km
• Event 2: December 10, 2023 – Bad Gastein Criterium, Austria, 35km
• Event 3: December 16, 2023 – La Venosta Criterium, Italy, 35km 
• Event 4: December 17, 2023 – La Venosta ITT, Italy, 10km
• Event 5: January 13, 2024 – Pustertaler Ski Marathon, Italy, 62km
• Event 6: January 20, 2024 – Engadin La Diagonela, Switzerland, 55km
• Event 7: January 28, 2024 – Marcialonga, Italy, 70km
• Event 8: February 11, 2024 – Jizerská50, Czech Republic, 50km
• Event 9: February 17, 2024 – Grönklitt Classic, Sweden, 50km
• Event 10: February 18, 2024 – Grönklitt ITT, Sweden, 12km
• Event 11: March 3, 2024 – Vasaloppet, Sweden, 90km
• Event 12: March 16, 2024 – Birkebeinerrennet, Norway, 54km
• Event 13: April 6, 2024 – Reistadløpet, Norway, 50km
• Event 14: April 7, 2024 – Summit 2 Senja, Norway, 60km
• Event 15: April 13, 2024 – Ski Classics Grand Finale – Janteloppet, Norway, 100km

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