“I am wholeheartedly committed to making it to the World Championships and will be competing at the season opener in Beitostølen with the goal of qualifying for the World Cup opening in Ruka,” confirms the long-distance skiing star from Team Eksjöhus to Langrenn.com.

Magni Smedås was the second-best Norwegian and won a silver medal in the 30km at the Norwegian Championships part two last winter. Only her fellow villager, Therese Johaug, finished faster. The 30km race was conducted in the same style as the World Championships 50km in Trondheim will be this winter.

Before the weekend, she secured two solid sixth place finishes at the Blink Festival.

“Performance-wise, it could have been better, but I agree with what Heidi said: ‘It’s not about going fast now, it’s about the winter season,’” she says.

For Smedås, this winter’s World Championships on home soil is the clear main goal for the season.

If she does not qualify directly from Beitostølen for the World Cup opener, plan B is to qualify for the World Cup round in Lillehammer via the Norwegian Cup at Gålå the weekend following the national season opener.

“It’s crucial to get out on the World Cup circuit and deliver early in the year. The results from there are what count for the World Championship selection,” says Smedås.

Do you have any contact with the national team coaches? 

“No. But they are well aware that I’ve started skating more,” says Smedås.

The article continues below.

So far, summer training has gone smoothly for Smedås, unlike last year. She was overly eager in her training and suffered not one but two bouts of acute rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition where muscles break down due to overuse and the contents of damaged muscle cells leak into the blood, potentially leading to kidney failure. Consequently, Smedås had to radically alter her training approach before the season started.

It was a valuable lesson, Smedås explains.

“I haven’t been as extreme this year. And I’ve stayed healthy and injury-free, and trained well,” she says.

How are you organizing your training this fall compared to previous seasons, now that all-around cross-country skiing, rather than Ski Classics, is the main focus?

“Actually, I train quite similarly. I see that the training we do for long-distance also works for all-around skiing. But I’ve done more skating and been conscious of using my legs more. So, I’ve had more hard sessions in freestyle and running, and included some classic hard sessions with diagonal stride, not just poling,” says Smedås, adding:

“But I notice that I need to seek out quite steep hills now. With the long-distance focus over the past couple of years, I feel like almost everything can be done with poling. And I sometimes shake my head when I see others using diagonal stride up to Nordseter.”

Do you train with other national team skiers? 

“No. None of them live in Lillehammer anymore,” says Smedås, adding:

“It would be fun to join one of their training camps, but I’m sure many others think the same.”

The article continues below.

Smedås is not worried about not matching up regularly with national team skiers before the season opener in Beitostølen at the end of November.

In Team Eksjöhus, she has Marthe Kristoffersen as her head coach. The Norwegian success coach, who led the Swedish Pro Team to a dominant victory in the Ski Classics Pro Team competition last winter, has focused on all-around skiing at the World Cup level and came to Eksjöhus from her role as head coach of the Ski Federation’s regional team, Team Elon Innlandet. There, she also had Smedås as an athlete.

“Marthe has everything under control,” says Smedås contentedly.

At the same time, she is clear that she does not expect to simply stroll into the World Championships team, even if she delivers good results early in the season.

“I feel like many think it’s just a matter of picking a spot in the women’s team for the World Championships this year. It’s not like that. There are many who want to go to the World Championships, and I’m prepared for that,” says Magni Smedås.

But it’s not unlikely that there could be two women from Dalsbygda competing in the 50km at the World Championships in Trondheim.

Norwegian Championships gold medallist in the 30km, Therese Johaug, just announced her World Championships comeback. So far, the cross-country queen has crushed the competition in everything she has competed in.

Also Read: Johaug is back!

Magni Smedås is not the only one from Team Eksjöhus aiming for a World Championships spot this season. Eirik Sverdrup Augdal, who became a major talking point at Norwegian Championships part two by winning bronze in the 10km and gold in the 50km, beating Johannes Høsflot Klæbo by over a minute, is also targeting all-around skiing with Trondheim in sight.

Are you interested in Ski Classics and long-distance skiing? Click HERE and read more about it.