Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XV is underway, with the first four races already completed. Now it’s time for the Christmas break, and the action will continue at full throttle from mid-January to mid-April. Three Finnish Pro Teams have started the season well, and there’s certainly more to come in 2024.

Finnish Pro Teams participated in both the Bad Gastein and La Venosta weekends, and Kati Roivas of Team Eksjöhus even made it to the podium in the uphill individual time trial event held last Sunday. The day before, she finished fourth in the mass start race. After Bad Gastein, Kati mentioned her lack of muscle readiness, but the Italian races last weekend showed improvement.

“On Saturday, I performed better than in Bad Gastein, but it still wasn’t the smooth and sharp skiing I aim for. In Sunday’s interval start, I had a calm start and was able to pick up the pace towards the end. My skiing doesn’t feel fully ready yet, but it’s definitely better than on the opening weekend,” Kati said to Maastohiihto.com after the race, praising her support team:

“I received split times during the race, but it wasn’t until a couple of kilometers before the finish that I knew I was fighting for a podium spot. I’m really satisfied with the weekend as a whole, and the support team did an excellent job with the skis once again.”

Kati represents a Swedish Pro Team that performed excellently overall during the weekend. Among the Finnish Pro Teams, Team Kaski-Ekovilla and Team Mäenpää had a strong presence on Sunday. Due to illness, neither Oona Kettunen nor Juuso Mäkelä, both from Team Kaski-Ekovilla, were able to compete on Saturday, but they were on the starting line on Sunday. Despite being unwell, Oona achieved an impressive 12th place, and Juuso finished 26th. The best Finnish male skier, however, was Viktor Mäenpää, who had already found his rhythm and finished 23rd.

“La Venosta produced mixed results for me personally. I fell after two kilometers on Saturday, so that day was ruined. On Sunday, I got confirmation that my form is good, so it was nice to get that validation before Christmas. My big goal for January is Marcialonga. So now it’s all about training and staying healthy. I’m sure January will be good if everything goes according to plan,” Viktor said with determination.

If Viktor had found a positive mindset before the Christmas break, the skiers of Finnish Team Kaski-Ekovilla would have been disappointed with their La Venosta performance due to illness.

“A stomach bug and fever that started on Friday forced me to skip Saturday’s race. In Sunday’s race, my skiing felt loose the whole time, and I had to push myself forward. However, I still managed an okay result. Overall, the weekend was a disappointment because I was expecting it to be two of my best races in the series,” Juuso shared his feelings about the weekend race.

“I had high expectations for the weekend, but a stomach bug disrupted my plans. I had a fever from Thursday to Friday, so I couldn’t even start on Saturday. I recovered in time for Sunday’s race, but my body was still weak from the illness,” Oona admitted, explaining what she plans to do during the break:

“Since I’ve had too many sick days in November and December, I need a few weeks of training break. The goal for upcoming training is to restore my fitness base and strength levels.”

Pro Team Director Kari Varis concurred with the skiers’ views, saying that they will take a few days to rest, and then the most critical training period of the race season will begin. This will ensure that the skiers have the stamina to compete until the end of the season, with the longer races starting in January.

The only athlete from Team Edux competing was Isac Holmström in the weekend’s races. He finished 76th in Sunday’s uphill race and 50th in Saturday’s Criterium.

“The race in Venosta on Saturday felt better than Bad Gastein. It was evident that being at high altitude for a week helped me adapt. The illness I had in November still affects me a bit, but now that I can get back to the basics in training, I’m sure I’ll be ready for the January races. The longer races in January should suit me better than the shorter ones at the beginning of the season,” Isac said positively.

Team leader and one of the team’s skiers, Olli Tyrväinen, strongly believes that results will come from the work done during the holiday season.

“During the Christmas holidays, our athletes have one last opportunity for an extended training period because from January onwards, there will be races almost every weekend. Training will consist mainly of basic training: about 25 hours per week, 90% base work, 2-3 long sessions (4-6 hours) per week, long interval workouts with effective time of 1.5-2 hours. As the races get longer, it’s important to maximize glycogen storage capacity, and the long interval workouts have worked well for that. We will also continue ski and wax tests. Let’s hope for varying weather conditions to gather more data,” Olli explained the Finnish team’s plans.

So, Finnish teams are ready for the upcoming events, and their plans are clear: intense training during the break and staying healthy. How does the current top long-distance skier in Finland plan to spend the end of the year before the next races?

“Getting my first podium was, of course, a big deal, and it’s kind of one big goal achieved now. This definitely adds motivation for the future. Right now, it’s about recovering from the races and enjoying Christmas. For me, the most important thing is to have healthy training days before January and the longer races,” Kati Roivas reveals her plans for the upcoming weeks.

Read more about the La Venosta races: La Venosta Criterium and La Venosta ITT.

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XV

The Season XV of Ski Classics Pro Tour consists of 15 events on 11 event weekends in 6 different countries. The season started in Bad Gastein, Austria, on December 9, 2023, and will end in Norway with the 100km Ski Classics Grand Finale Janteloppet on April 13, 2024.

Next up is the 3 Zinnen Ski Marathon in Italy on January 13, 2024. The event marks the fifth Ski Classics Pro Tour stage of Season XV.

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XV (2023/2024)

• Event 1: December 9, 2023 – Bad Gastein PTT, Austria, 13km
• Event 2: December 10, 2023 – Bad Gastein Criterium, Austria, 36km
• Event 3: December 16, 2023 – La Venosta Criterium, Italy, 37km 
• Event 4: December 17, 2023 – La Venosta ITT, Italy, 10km
• Event 5: January 13, 2024 – 3 Zinnen Ski Marathon, Italy, 62km
• Event 6: January 20, 2024 – Engadin La Diagonela, Switzerland, 56km
• 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, 60km
• Event 10: February 18, 2024 – Grönklitt ITT, Sweden, 13km
• 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

More information about the Ski Classics Pro Tour can be found at skiclassics.com