She started skiing at the age of 20. Now, Team Engcon’s Hanna Lodin is aiming for the podium in Ski Classics.

“The long races suit me best,” says the Ski Classics Pro Team athlete Hanna Lodin to Langd.se.

There are many ways to elite sports. Hanna Lodin has chosen a different but nice path.

“I come from a family of skiers, so I grew up with the idea that Vasaloppet is something you should do. But I have not practiced skiing. That is, I’ve never been to any ski training. It’s mostly been about going on trips with the family. Then I’ve kept going,” says Hanna Lodin, who has been active as a gymnast and soccer player. The latter was in the second-highest league, but an ACL injury ended her soccer career.

In 2019, Hanna Lodin did her first 90km on skis in her father’s footsteps. Her first thoughts about focusing on skiing started at Vasaloppet Open Track (Öppet Spår) five years ago.

Five hours, seven minutes, and forty seconds after leaving the starting field in Berga by, she crossed the finish portal in Mora. Later, she decided to focus on skiing.

“It’s clear that I haven’t taken the same path as many others, but I think it’s about making up your mind, knowing what it takes, and having motivation for what you do. And I have really done that,” says Lodin, who switched from Ski Team Göhlins to Team Engcon before last season.

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She already showed progress in her results last summer, including the podium at the Klarälvsloppet (a 90-km roller ski race in Sweden).

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“I saw all summer that I was developing, and it’s clear that it gave me more confidence going into the winter,” says Lodin, whose goal was to finish among the top six in a Ski Classics Pro Tour event.

She did it three times, finishing sixth at Vasaloppet and fifth in both Birkebeinerrennet and the Ski Classics Grand Finale Janteloppet, resulting in sixth place overall in the Ski Classics Champion competition.

Notable is that Lodin performs best in the longest races:

“It’s clear that the successes during the end of last season, in particular, have made me move my goals forward. And it would be cool to get on the podium. Looking at the last few seasons, my chances should be best in one of the longer races, but I also don’t want to ignore the shorter races. It’s something I want to develop going forward. Now, during the base season, I will try to focus more on speed and endurance,” says Lodin, who will be part of a powerful women’s squad in Team Engcon, where she will race together with Ida Dahl and Anikken Gjerde Alnes (the Norwegian was unfortunately hit during a training session on roller skis last Wednesday and has now been operated on).

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