After Sunday’s victory at Bad Gastein Criterium, Team Engcon’s Ida Dahl has won five Ski Classics Pro Tour events, which also means that she became a new Legend this weekend, and her name is now carved in the Ski Classics Hall of Fame forever.
To become a Legend, a Pro Tour athlete must win at least five individual events, with races before the first season of Ski Classics also counting. And now, Ida Dahl, Team Engcon, achieved this incredible feat reserved for only a few of the best long-distance skiers of all time.
“I would like to congratulate Ida on becoming a Legend and part of the Hall of Fame. Do get one victory in Ski Classics is a milestone for every skier; to win a second time is twice as difficult. To get five victories and become a Legend is a lifetime achievement reserved for the very few. Ida becomes the 20th Legend in the history of Ski Classics. For us, our Legends are of most importance, our forever shining stars, and we try to take extra care of them also after their careers have ended, with some secret benefits…,” says David Nilsson CEO Ski Classics.
Link to the Ski Classics Hall of Fame
Ida has started this season amazingly well with her Team Engcon’s victory at Bad Gastein Pro Team Tempo and her individual win, valid for the record, at Bad Gastein Criterium.
Both of those victories have come after exceptional performances. First at the Pro Team Tempo, where she posted the fastest time with teammate Linn Sömskar and then at the Criterium, where she broke away with Astrid Øyre Slind, pushed the pace at the final Sprint and never looked back, winning the race in a grand style. With these early season results, Dahl has a great chance to get more prestigious victories this winter, and thus her Legend status can be strongly solidified.
For Ida Dahl, winning five Pro Tour events (Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge, La Diagonela, Marcialonga, and Jizerská50 – Season XII, and Bad Gastein Criterium – Season XIV), becoming a Legend, and entering the Ski Classics Hall of Fame has great importance:
“Of course, it means a lot. It’s always fun when the hard and purposeful work you put in over a long period of time results in great success and where you manage to achieve many big goals,” says Ida Dahl to ProXCskiing.com.
This Swedish Pro Tour skier debuted in Ski Classics during Birkebeinerrennet in 2019, where she finished 9th, finishing Season IX in 27th place in the Champion overall and 8th in the Youth competition. Since then, Dahl has completed 33 Pro Tour events, 10 Ski Classics Challengers races, and so far, 20 podium places altogether.
During Season X, Ida finished 7th in the Champion overall and 1st in the Youth competition. In Season XI, she was 2nd overall, 1st in the Youth, 2nd in the Sprint, and 3rd in the Climb competitions, and she was on the Pro Tour podium five times.
Last season, she was the 2nd best female athlete overall, 1st in the Youth competition, and 3rd in the Climb competition. The same season, she got her first victory in Ski Classics when she won Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge, followed by victories at La Diagonela, Marcialonga, and Jizerská50.
The five victories are important in Ida’s long-distance skiing career, but two stand out most:
“The first win is always something special so I would say Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge (is the most remarkable victory). But at the same time, Marcialonga was very special, especially because of the folk festival that it is,” says Dahl and continues about her upcoming goals:
“Looking at the full season, the Yellow bib is the goal, and then maybe at least five more victories are required,” says Dahl with a smile and concludes:
“But for an individual race, Vasaloppet is my biggest goal.”
In terms of the Ski Classics Legends, to name a few of the Ski Classics stars, Britta Johansson Norgren has the most significant number of victories with 25 wins, while Anders Aukland has 16. Seraina Boner and Andreas Nygaard are right behind Britta and Anders, with 15 wins, while Stanislav Řezáč has 14, Petter Eliassen has 13, and Tord Asle Gjerdalen has 12 stage victories.
Legends Table
Wins Name
25 Britta Johansson Norgren
16 Anders Aukland
15 Seraina Boner
15 Andreas Nygaard
14 Stanislav Rezac
13 Petter Eliassen
12 Tord Asle Gjerdalen
11 Katerina Smutna,
10 Lina Korsgren
10 Emil Persson
9 Astrid Øyre Slind
8 Jörgen Aukland
7 Oskar Svärd, Jenny Grip
6 Justyna Kowalczyk, Jerry Ahrlin
5 John Kristian Dahl, Sandra Hansson, Daniel Tynell, Ida Dahl
