The Swedish junior skier and Team Engcon’s Pro Tour athlete Tove Ericsson has had a good season so far. A solid Junior World Championships has been complemented by impressive races against senior skiers, including a third place at the Grönklitt Criterium. Recently, she was three times medalist at the Junior Swedish Championships, medals that unexpectedly left a bitter feeling.

“It is not great to end a week by being less than a second behind the winner in three races,” says Tove Ericsson during Wednesday’s pre-Birkebeinerrennet interview.

“But I felt in Gällivare during Junior Swedish Championships that the form is good, and I had a good feeling in my body,” she added. 

In Orsa Grönklitt almost a month ago, the Swedish junior made a somewhat sensational Ski Classics debut when she finished third in Saturday’s 50km race.

“I was surprised by the result. Then I realized it is tough to double pole so long when the track is so flat because you never have time to rest and recover. It was very challenging,” says Tove. 

Ericsson also agrees that she often steps up and does better races when competing against seniors instead of skiers her age.

“I think the season premiere in Bruksvallarna was good. I had a good training autumn behind me, but at the same time, I didn’t feel that the races there stood out in any way. Rather that it was my basic level,” she says and continues:

“In the Scandinavian Cup in Östersund, it went well, also here (Ski Classics). I think it suits me when the races get longer. The 5 and 7.5km race are a bit short for me, and I also think that mass starts benefit me.”

This weekend, skiers must also carry the traditional extra weight of 3.5 kg at Birkebeinerrennet.

“I have mainly been training for the Junior Swedish Championships in recent weeks. But since then, I’ve done a couple of sessions with double poling to improve it for this weekend.”

She does not give much importance to the backpack with the extra kilos and believes it is the same for everyone.

“I will test how it is to ski with the backpack in the next few days and will make it work.”

Before Saturday’s race, Tove had tips from the more experienced teammates at Team Engcon to better understand ​​the race and the course profile. 

“I have asked quite a lot about the race. I also think I will learn more about the course in the next few days when we are there,” says Tove. 

However, she had already planned some race tactics for the weekend.

“I realized in Orsa that you must go out hard to keep up with a good group. So I’ll do it and see how far it goes.”

The idea of ​​skiing Birken has been in Tove’s mind for a while, but it was only recently that she decided to start. An easy decision after she did not get a place at the Swedish Team for the Falun World Cup the upcoming weekend. 

“As I said, I haven’t really trained for Birken. But I didn’t have high hopes of being named for the World Cup in Falun either. My results have not been good enough. Of course, I still hoped there might be a chance; you always do.”

Birkebeinerrennet will be the last Ski Classics event Tove Ericsson starts this season. After this weekend’s competition, the focus is again on traditional cross-country skiing races and the Swedish Championships in Kalix at the beginning of April.

Watch The Full Pre-Event Interviews Here With Some Of The Favorites For The Weekend: Birkebeinerrennet Pre-Event Interviews Live On SC YouTube

Ski Classics Pro Tour XIV – Event 12: Pre-Birkebeinerrennet Interviews

The Season XIV of Ski Classics Pro Tour consists of 14 events on 10 event weekends in 6 different countries. 

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XIV (2022/2023)

• Event 1: December 10, 2022 – Bad Gastein PTT, Bad Gastein, Austria, 15km
• Event 2: December 11, 2022 – Bad Gastein Criterium, Bad Gastein, Austria, 35km
• Event 3: December 17, 2022 – La Venosta Criterium, Val Venosta, Italy, 36km 
• Event 4: January 14, 2023 – Pustertaler Ski Marathon, Sexten, Italy, 62km
• Event 5: January 15, 2023 – Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge, Niederdorf, Italy, 32km
• Event 6: January 21, 2023 – Engadin La Diagonela, Engadin Valley, Switzerland, 48km 
• Event 7: January 29, 2023 – Marcialonga, Trentino, Italy, 70km
• Event 8: February 12, 2023 – Jizerská50, Bedrichov, Czech Republic, 50km
• Event 9: February 18, 2023 – Grönklitt Criterium, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 50km
• Event 10: February 19, 2023 – Grönklitt ITT, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 12km
• Event 11: March 5, 2023 – Vasaloppet, Sälen-Mora, Sweden, 90km
• Event 12: March 18, 2023 – Birkebeinerrennet, Rena-Lillehammer, Norway, 54km
• Event 13: April 1, 2023 – Reistadløpet, Setermoen-Bardufoss, Norway, 40km
• Event 14: April 2, 2023 – Summit 2 Senja, Bardufoss- Finnsnes, Norway, 67km

More information about Ski Classics you can find at skiclassics.com.