Malin Börjesjö is going for her second season devoted to Ski Classics, racing for Team Internorm Alpenplus Trentino. After one year of development and some challenges on her way, the Swedish skier hopes to beat her performance and help her team achieve better results.

Most cross-country skiers spend their summer training chasing the best training locations, joining training camps, and looking for races where they can test how training is going against their peers. But Malin Börjesjö, the Swedish Pro Tour athlete who races for the Italian Team Internorm Alpenplus Trentino, had a different training season.

“I have not participated in any summer camp this year. I have spent my summer training in Stockholm, mostly on my own, since I worked full-time on a summer internship. It has, however, worked out very well, and I have maximized the training, despite constrained time,” Malin says to ProXCskiing.com.

Despite not having the opportunity to train more often with her team, Malin still managed to have the chance to join Team Internorm Alpenplus Trentino in Predazzo at the beginning of the fall.

“I’m very happy with all the support the team gives me and has given me. Especially the team manager Michele, who really has made me feel like a part of the family,” she adds.

“I was able to race La Venosta Skiroll and to attend the one-day collaboration with Team Ragde Charge. I was happily surprised about how well the race felt since there was a lot of diagonal striding technique, which I didn’t have time to practice this year,” continues the Swedish skier, who finished the race in the 3rd position, just behind Team Ragde Charge’s girls.

About the training day spent with Team Ragde Charge, Malin shares her thoughts: 

“The beautiful thing about long-distance skiing is that, even though we are competitors on the race day, long-distance skiers help each other when the race bib is off,” reflects Malin, thinking about the day spent with some of the best long-distance skiers in the world. 

“This day, with Team Ragde Charge, was a great example. Even though we are all from different countries and have different first languages, we can all come together and bond over our dedication to skiing. We enjoyed a long session together, followed by some delicious Italian food. I’m very grateful that Magnar and Michele ensured we could have this training day together.”

Read More: Team Internorm Alpenplus Trentino Spent A Day Learning With Team Ragde Charge

The Challenge Of Being An Elite Skier While Studying And Working

Being a long-distance skier while having a full-time job might be challenging, but Malin still expects to keep her shape for the upcoming season. She is writing her Master’s thesis on Civil Engineering when she is not training.

“Since I’ve worked full time during the summer and studied full time during the fall, I have needed to reduce the expectations on myself. But I still expect to be, at least, at the same level as last year. Which means that top 30 and ideally top 20.”

Season XII has been the first one competing for full-time at Ski Classics, and Malin feels she has improved her double poling. The technique has been her focus in training.

“This year, I have been able to increase the amount of double poling that I include in my training without getting too sore or injured. This has led to the sessions being more targeted toward long-distance skiing, and the quality of my sessions improved. This has been very important for me since I’m very time constrained in my training, and therefore, I really need to focus on high quality in all sessions that I’m doing.”

Malin’s Main Goal Is The Most Famous Italian Race

Last Season, Malin could not participate in the race she looked forward to the most: Marcialonga. A Covid-19 infection forced her to stay away from the tracks and spend some time isolated, missing the most famous long-distance race in Italy.

This year, Malin is hoping to race Marcialonga. 

“Marcialonga is the race I am really looking forward to,” she says at the end of our talk. 

It is no surprise, as Marcialonga is one of the most epic races, especially for an athlete racing for an Italian team.

More than one year has passed since Malin Börjesjö devoted her sporting career to long-distance skiing, and her double-poling capacity has strongly developed since then. As the Swedish skier said in an interview last season, “it takes time to believe in my double-poling capabilities.” But, as she keeps developing those capabilities, the chances of reaching her top 20 goals get bigger.