The 24-year-old, who competes for Ski Team Göhlins in Ski Classics, started the season with a personal best, finishing in 14th place in the Bad Gastein ITT. This comes after a challenging year.

Hilda Löf, a part of the Swedish Pro Team Ski Team Göhlins, has had a strong start to the season, including a personal-best 14th-place finish. Over the past year, Hilda has worked hard to improve her weaknesses.

“I’ve noticed in training that I’ve really improved in the faster and easier sections of the courses,” she tells Langd.se and continues:

“This has come naturally from the training I’ve done. We’ve focused a lot on strength training, power, speed, and sprints. I’ve become stronger, more explosive, and better in those easier sections”.

Hit the Wall

However, things looked much tougher a year and a half ago. After the 2023 Alliansloppet, she had to stop completely following a period where her performance had steadily declined. During this time, her partner, Johannes Eklöf, who was then a teammate of Alfred Buskqvist at Team Ramudden, sought advice on how to address the situation. Since then, Alfred Buskqvist has become her coach.

“It was ‘Affe’ who saw everything from the outside and realized that I was overtrained and burned out. After talking with him, we began working together. He helped me get back on track, and since then, we’ve been moving forward,” she says, praising her coach:

“It’s such a relief to have Alfred as my coach. He’s great at what he does and brings me a sense of calm. It’s good to have someone who can be rational for me when I can’t be.”

Ski Classics Personal Best – Improved Training Quality

Years of hard training with insufficient energy had taken a toll, and last season, Hilda only competed a handful of times.

“I was overtrained and had been training intensely for many years without enough energy. So, first, we had to get my body functioning properly again. For this season, I’ve trained less than before, but the quality of my sessions has been excellent. It’s easier to develop when you have excess energy,” she explains.

Because of this, her strong start to the season has been somewhat unexpected.

“Last season was basically a loss, but it became a long-term investment. Honestly, I didn’t expect to make this much progress this season. We’re planning for even greater improvements in the longer term,” she explains and continues:

“But it’s been incredibly rewarding to see clear progress already this season.”

Looking Forward to Vasaloppet

How do you feel now? Do you feel recovered?

“It’s hard to say because you can only compare yourself to how you used to be. But I absolutely feel much better. I’m a bit more reasonable now. Instead of just pushing myself endlessly, I listen when I feel tired. I’m kinder to myself in general. For example, I might decide to relax today and not push through all the tasks I planned. Having a coach to guide me helps a lot; otherwise, it’s easy to overdo it,” says Hilda.

Before this season, her best result in Ski Classics was 27th place. Now, her personal best is 14th. She is particularly excited about the races held in Sweden.

“Tjejvasan and the Vasaloppet suit me very well, so I’m really looking forward to those. There’s so much fun ahead”, she concludes.

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