Last winter, she delivered the best World Cup season of her career. In May, she changed teams, and in June, she won the Birkebeinerløpet by a crushing margin.

Karoline Simpson-Larsen is on a roll: Last winter, she secured a top 10 finish in the World Cup and her best season ever. On Saturday afternoon, she won the Birkebeinerløpet (Birkebeiner Run) with nearly a one-minute lead.

“It’s proof that training works: train, sleep, and eat – it pays off in the end,” grinned the 27-year-old from Team Anlegg Øst after her victory in the Birkebeiner Run.

Simpson-Larsen beat Stine Holager from SK Vidar by 56 seconds and defending champion Maren Wangensteen by 1 minute and 11 seconds.

Team Switch

Wangensteen and Simpson-Larsen are now teammates. That’s been the case since early May, when Simpson-Larsen moved from the regional team Elon Vest to the private team Team Anlegg Øst.

Simpson-Larsen doesn’t hide the fact that the course is demanding, both uphill and downhill.

“It was fun to run the first 10 kilometers with some rolling terrain, but the downhill was brutal. We’ll just count it as training.”

How nice was it to win today?

“It was a lot of fun. And surprisingly, considering that Marthe Mæhlum Johansen was competing. I thought it would be an interesting benchmark, since she’s run incredibly fast in both full and half marathons. But then I also saw a glimmer of hope, since asphalt isn’t the same as trail.”

Top 3 Women, Birkebeiner Run 21km

1. Karoline Simpson-Larsen, Raumnes og Årnes/Team Anlegg Øst, 47:15
2. Stine Holager, SK Vidar, 48:44
3. Maren Wangensteen, Høre Ryfoss IL/Team Anlegg Øst, 49:06

Full results

Cross-country skier on the podium in men’s class

In the men’s class, Joar Thele from Team Burger King Northug was the best-performing cross-country skier. He stormed to third place overall – just like last year.

Top 3 men, Birkebeiner Run 21km

1. Weldu Negash Gebretsadik, IL i BUL, 1:08:22
2. Sjur Prestsæter, SK Vidar, 1:08:30
3. Joar Thele, Team Burger King Northug, 1:09:48

Full results

Nearly 10.000 participants have signed up for the Birkebeiner Run and the other LøpeBirken events. That’s a record.

Are you interested in training? Click HERE and read more about it.