The super team no one saw coming: suddenly, the Ski Classics star has both the World Championships queen and one of the World Cup’s fastest sprinters as training partners — all for mutual benefit.

It’s quite a remarkable story. It began when Ebba Andersson, the queen of the 2025 World Championships in Trondheim, wasn’t quite done winning when both the World Championships and World Cup seasons ended in March.

The Swedish star decided to join the final weekend of the Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XVI. There, she delivered two victories in a row — first crushing the long-distance elite at Reistadløpet, then following up the next day with another dominant win at the Grand Finale Summit 2 Senja, two of the most prestigious Ski Classics events — and her first long-distance events in three years.

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The experience left her hungry for more, and a month later, she signed with the Pro Team, Team Engcon, for the upcoming season.

Read More: Team Engcon boosted by Ebba Andersson’s presence

Ebba Andersson is now one of three women on the team, alongside Anikken Gjerde Alnæs, the overall Ski Classics Champion 2025, and Hanna Lodin, who finished second in the Youth Competition.

Additionally, Team Engcon’s Pro Team Director is engaged to one of the world’s best sprinters, Ane Appelkvist Stenseth. The 30-year-old was dropped from Norway’s national team last year and is now competing independently for a second season. As part of her preparation for the 2026 Olympics in Italy, Stenseth has joined most of Team Engcon’s training camps.

And just like that, four of the world’s top athletes in their respective areas are training together under one banner.

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Raw power that inspires

There’s no doubt that the two World Cup stars bring enormous expertise.

“They both have a focus and a raw power that inspire,” says Alnæs to Langrenn.com.

Both she and Lodin are taking full advantage of the opportunity.

“We have two of the world’s best — one in aerobic and one in anaerobic endurance. So, Hanna and I get to test ourselves in both and develop top-level skills in distance and sprint. That’s very positive for what we do,” says Alnæs, who first made her name as a World Cup sprint specialist.

“Ebba has long shown that long races suit her well. But what she did at Summit 2 Senja — that’s just a ‘watch and learn’ moment,” she adds.

“Ebba sets the bar very high. There’s no doubt she’s a notch sharper than us on long climbs. And Ane has always been faster than me in sprints — very few have a higher top speed than her,” Alnæs says.

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An Olympic ace up her sleeve

Andersson is now preparing for the 2026 Winter Olympics, a championship she has already pre-qualified for after winning three golds and taking a fourth place at the World Championships in Trondheim this winter.

Instead of following the national team’s training camps, Andersson has chosen to join Team Engcon’s program leading up to the season opener in November.

She first joined Engcon’s opening camp in June, and this week she trained with the long-distance skiers in Steinkjer. The Swedish 28-year-old says the experience has given her plenty to work on.

“They do things a bit differently here,” Andersson said after the Steinkjer camp.

Each goes their own way in November — for a while

Later this fall, both the World Championships queen and Stenseth will join Team Engcon’s camp in Mallorca. After that, they’ll part ways — Andersson will start her season at the Swedish opener in Bruksvallarna (November 21–23), while Stenseth will compete at Beitostølen in Norway, both focusing on the World Cup and Olympics ahead.

For the Pro Team athletes, the season begins with the Ski Classics opener in Bad Gastein in mid-December.

Toward the end of the season, Andersson hopes to make another Ski Classics appearance — hopefully with her first individual Olympic medals already in the trophy cabinet.

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