A year and a half ago, the Vasaloppet organizing committee started the project ‘More Women in the Track.’ “We are not yet where we want to be, but the development regarding more women in our races is definitely going in the right direction,” says Vasaloppet’s Lena Hermansson. 

In the second edition of Vasaloppet in 1923, Margit Nordin was the first woman to start the event. A few weeks after Nordin’s finish, women were banned from participating.

That ban was maintained for a long time. Vasaloppet only accepted women’s registrations again in 1981. Two years earlier, there was the opportunity for women to test the 90km course between Sälen and Mora, this on the ‘Öppet spar,’ Open track in free translation.

In 1988, Vasaloppet, like many other major sports events worldwide, started a dedicated women’s race, and Tjejvasan soon became a popular event.

But despite the dedicated women’s race, fewer women than men have participated in Vasaloppet’s events.

When Vasaloppet organization started the project ‘More women in the track’ in the autumn 2022, there were 32.5 percent women who participated in Vasaloppet’s various events (summer and winter):

“We want to welcome everyone to Vasaloppet, regardless of gender. This was the background to why we started the project. We made a campaign where we asked for people who wanted to help us with this work. Four hundred applied, and 15 were selected for a two-day workshop,” says Lena Hermansson, who led the project.

“We have a good and positive development. And we see this as long-term work. But if you look at the ski races, 35.1 percent were women before the project started; last year, it was 36.9 percent. We don’t know where this winter’s results will end, but right now, there are 38 percent of women registered. If you look specifically at Vasaloppet, it was 17.3 percent in 2022, and now we are up to 20.5 percent,” says Hermansson.

In addition, Saturday’s Tjejvasan has a positive registration status. Currently, there are 6,500 women registered to start on the 30km event between Oxberg and Mora.

Read More: Complete competition program for Vasaloppet’s Winter Week 2024 

Vasaloppet (1923)