Andersson starts season on top with 10km win

Sweden’s Ebba Andersson got a flying start to the Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup season, winning the women’s 10km classic race in Ruka, Finland on Saturday.

The 26-year-old double gold medallist at the 2023 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia, in February and March, won her first World Cup race this winter, showing why many see her as a crystal globe candidate.

USA’s Rosie Brennan claimed the second place and Andersson’s teammate Frida Karlsson (SWE) finished third.

”It has been a good day,” Andersson said, happy to be back in the Cross-Country tracks.

”It’s something that we’ve been waiting for now for a long time. It’s quite a long training season so now it’s very fun that everything has started up again.”

Her sixth World Cup win however did not come as easily as it looked half-way through the race.

Andersson set off at a higher pace than usual and at 6.1km she was leading 10.7 seconds before Karlsson, with Brennan in third place, 12.2 seconds behind.

Veteran Brennan, 34, had lots of energy left in the tank and took over Karlsson in the last four kilometres, not knowing that she was also giving the other Swede a run for the money.

”It was great. It was really nice conditions out there, we had really good skis and I felt good. It was a nice race today,” Brennan said.

Andersson had started two minutes after Brennan, who did not know which time she would have to beat as she came into the final stretch. When Andersson crossed the finish line, her margin down to Brennan had shrunk to 4.9 seconds.

”I didn’t really know what the fight was because she was behind me but I was gaining on Frida so I tried to just think ’more and more seconds, more and more seconds’, and when I finished I realised that it would be kind of close with Ebba,” Brennan said, eager for a re-match against the winner.

”We have to fight again, it was close.”

Andersson had to dig deep to keep her lead in the last kilometres, but managed to stay in front, repeating her classic 10km win in Ruka one year ago.

”I felt strong from the very beginning, then I struggled a little in the second lap but I just tried to keep the pace as well as I could and just pushed it to the finish line,” Andersson said.

She enjoyed battling it out with Brennan.

”It was tough so I just had to be tough back to her, so I am satisfied by standing on top of the podium and it’s been a good start for the team.”

Karlsson paced herself well throughout the race and claimed her first podium position this season, five seconds after Brennan. Having finished fourth in Friday’s sprint, the third-place earned Karlsson the yellow bib as the current overall World Cup leader.

Karlsson’s teammate Moa Ilar claimed the fourth place, 12.3 seconds behind her. German duo Katharina Hennig and Victoria Carl finished fifth and sixth respectively, as last year’s distance crystal globe winner, Kerttu Niskanen, claimed the seventh place in front of the home fans.

Click here for full results from the women’s 10km classic.

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