We have stepped into November, and the competition season is fast approaching. On November 18, the Swedish season starts in Bruksvallarna with a classic sprint. A week later, on November 25, the World Cup begins in Ruka, Finland, with a classic sprint as the first competition.

The Swedish national team is currently in a training camp in Vålådalen. Today there was a sprint competition with a slightly different format: two prologues followed by the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and finals. Four skiers in each elimination heat.

In the women’s competition, Emma Ribom showed some class when she broke away and won ahead of Johanna Hagström and Ebba Andersson.

On the men’s side, Marcus Grate was the strongest and took home the victory ahead of Edvin Anger and Anton Persson:

“The goal for the day was to ski for as good a position as possible. And it was nice to feel that I had power and speed in the final. I haven’t really felt that during the summer training. Very good that it’s starting now,” summed up Grate to the national cross-country team’s Instagram.