The Pro Team athlete stepped up the podium several times before taking her first victory. Once Emilie Fleten won, she did it at the biggest long-distance race in the World.

In this article, Emilie Fleten, Team Ramudden, talks about the relief of winning Vasaloppet, what she needs to improve, and the collaboration with Team Ramudden’s Pro Team Director, Lina Korsgren.

At the end of September last year, Norwegian Emilie Fleten chose to sign a contract with Team Ramudden. The main reason was to work together with the former Ski Classics star and the then relatively newly appointed Pro Team Director Lina Korsgren:

“The collaboration with Lina has, in this way, with a season’s perspective, been everything I wanted and hoped for. Lina has a lot of knowledge, and having a woman as a coach and leader is very important. She has stood there as a woman on the starting field in Sälen and knows what it’s like to feel that and what awaits up the first hill. All the experiences she can share from Vasaloppet and all the other races in Ski Classics are extremely important to me,” says Emilie Fleten, who did her first race in Ski Classics in 2017.

In her debut event, she was 9th at Birkebeinerrennet, but it took another couple of years before focusing on Ski Classics at the end of 2019.

The first time she got to step on the podium was in the Czech Republic at the Jizerská50 three years ago. And after that, she lined up some solid results, but it was only on that memorable first Sunday in March that she could finally celebrate her career’s first Ski Classics victory.

Read More: Emilie Fleten about her win at Vasaloppet

Also Read: Emil Persson and Emilie Fleten winners of Vasaloppet 2023

But the 31-year-old Norwegian had a challenging start to the competition season. Fleten fell ill before the Bad Gastein weekend and missed the Pro Team Tempo (where Pro Team Director Lina Korsgren had to make a temporary comeback).

“I only had time to train three days after the illness before I started the individual race in Bad Gastein. I was third there, and considering the preparations, it gave me confidence for the upcoming races. Then I had a good month with nice results before I got Covid at the end of January. That meant that I had to ‘restart’ the season,” says Emilie and adds:

“Then I struggled a bit with my stomach during several races, and now I’ve had confirmation that I’m lactose intolerant. So, there was a bit of trouble along the way,” says Fleten when Langd.se met her during Team Ramudden’s kick-off training camp at Högbo Bruk a week ago.

Apart from the challenges, Emilie Fleten continued the Winter season and filled her results list with podiums and good races all the way to Vasaloppet. Once there, everything was in order:

“There was a day when everything worked. To finally be able to take that first win, after being so close so many times (fourteen times on the podium before the win), was such a relief. Actually, more relief than joy, at least initially.”

What does the victory mean for the coming season?

“It makes me feel confident that what I do is good enough. I can trust that I am a skier who can win races. I know I can do it again if I’ve done it once.”

You and Lina Korsgren started your collaboration relatively late in last year’s dryland season. What can you develop together for the coming winter?

“I’m surprised that we ‘managed’ as much as we did before last season, and a lot has also happened during the season. Now we can work on it from the start of this season. Climbing is my strength and probably always will be. And I will continue to work on that, but of course, also highlight my weaknesses. I need to get more speed, tolerate going at a higher speed, and achieve those tempo increases in the same way as, for example, Ida and Magni (Dahl and Smedås) do. I look forward to doing that job towards the coming season,” concludes Emilie Fleten.

Here are Emilie Fleten’s results at Ski Classics Season XIV

• Bad Gastein Criterium – 3rd place
• La Venosta Criterium – 4th place
• Pustertaler Ski Marathon – 3rd place
• Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge – 2nd place
• Engadin La Diagonela – 2nd place
• Jizerská50 – 4th place
• Grönklitt Criterium – 2nd place
• Grönklitt ITT – 2nd place
• Vasaloppet – 1st place
• Birkebeinerrennet – 5th place
• Reistadløpet – 3rd place
• Summit 2 Senja – 3rd place

For a complete list of results, click here.