Britta Johansson Norgren, Lager 157 Ski Team, missed the victory at Tjejvasan last year by the smallest possible margin when Lina Korsgren won after a photo finish. Much suggests that the long-distance race giant is making its final season this winter. A fifth victory at Tjejvasan on Saturday can change that.

Maybe Johansson Norgren wants to reach six victories in the race, just like Susanne Nyström.

“If I succeed with a fifth victory on Saturday, I may well consider continuing,” says Johansson Norgren to Langd.se and laughs.

The 2020/2021 season looked to be the last for Britta Johansson Norgren. A long and successful career would be rounded off at precisely 38 years of age.

So, she suffered the painful frostbite at the season premiere, and after five straight overall victories in Visma Ski Classics, the winter did not turn out at all as the Lager 157 Ski Team skier had imagined.

Johansson Norgren continued to train with a lot of motivation. This winter, she has been back in the absolute top again. Something we not least got to see last Sunday when she won the Tartu Marathon solo. Again, there is a lot to suggest that this season is the last for Britta. But…

You have won Tjejvasan four times. Susanne Nyström holds the record with six victories. Are you going to continue for another year now?

“If I succeed with a fifth victory, I must consider it,” says Johansson Norgren, laughs and continues:

“Yes, it has gone very well at Tjejvasan over the years with the four wins and some second places.”

Tomorrow, we will see if Johansson Norgren can take revenge from the narrow loss against Lina Korsgren last year and if so, it can make her continue another season.

Last year, it was a special Tjejvasan with the close sprint between Korsgren and Johansson Norgren, where the victory wreath was moved between the two several times.

“It got very boring when she first got the wreath, and then it was put on me all of a sudden before she got it back. There was a bit of a commotion. Sad for Lina’s sake when she won for the first time,” says Johansson Norgren.

Then Britta came to Tjejvasan with uncertainty about the form after the frostbite injuries earlier in the season.

“Last year, Tjejvasan was in a slightly different way for me. A check if I would make it to the Vasaloppet. Tjejvasan felt good then, but the next day I got a hell of a bang from the race and was not alert when we got to the Vasaloppet. Of course, I hope that it will be in a slightly different way this year,” says Johansson Norgren.

What does Tjejvasan mean for you and women’s skiing in Sweden?

“Winning Tjejvasan may not be the biggest, but the race means a lot. I know how much it was fought for the competition to take place. I also think more people should give the race a chance. There we have an hour and a half of great TV time. It’s cool, and it’s maybe the competition all year round where you are most visible on TV, so it’s significant for sponsors and that you can show yourself. I think more people would take the chance to start,” states Johansson Norgren and continues:

“If you want to fight for women’s skiing to be bigger, I do not understand if you do not come and go. We have our own race, and the men do not have it during Vasaloppet week.”

We saw how well you skied Tartu Maraton and the great skis you had. Can you tell us a little about how the race was?

“We had succeeded really really well with the skis, and it was great fun. I had hoped for a fast race considering the Vasaloppet. It is very similar in track profile, much like riding the first sixty kilometers in the Vasaloppet.”

“It was still quite a lot of activity in the beginning, and then I got a gap with Lina, and then I thought that then we would ski well. So, I had super skis and could walk away from Lina, and then it was just to continue until the guys came.”

“Then, when I skied with the men, I could keep it quite comfortably. It was a super day.”

How important was Tartu Maraton before the Vasaloppet?

“It was a good workout in a similar type of race and that I had to lie on the back of the guys in the same way as it will be at the Vasaloppet. In terms of form, it’s hard to say because I had such good skis. Then it’s very easy to go, but on the other hand, Thea (Krokan Murud) had just as good skis and had to let go, so that says a bit about me being alert.”

“I also felt good in training, even though I felt a little tired when I tried to train after the weekend. But I did good training, and it feels like the body is what it should be. But it is always the case that you have to do the right thing before the Vasaloppet.”

How is the balance in the last weeks before Vasaloppet? Training versus rest?

“It’s the week, and it’s a little more training. Some long workouts and some hard ones. Today (Wednesday) I skied longer thresholds,” says Johansson Norgren and continues:
“I am often in good shape at Tjejvasan but do not always succeed with the same thing at Vasaloppet. For me, it’s about finding the right one. I have tried to lighten up the training a lot and not do so much at all the last week. It’s something that did not work for me. When you try to eat a little extra and at the same time not move so much, then I had felt quite sluggish when I came to the Vasaloppet. Now I try to keep it more like before a regular competition weekend. Lighten up the training, skip the longest workout and the toughest intervals, but still try to keep going all the time, so I do not get that feeling.”

Unlike last year, it is now again the case that you start on the mass start of the Vasaloppet. What do you think about it?

“It is above all fun that we are back at the regular starting point. It was a bit boring last year, and it was not that grand with the Vasaloppet. That’s what’s a little special when you have to warm up, and everyone is there, and the whole field has to move away. I think it’s fun with the Vasaloppet,” says Johansson Norgren but then adds:

“Then it gets extra nervous. Then have to make a good hill and get in the right group. There are a few more things you have to achieve.