The Worldloppet Ski Federation is a federation of long distance

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

events whose aim is to promote cross-country skiing through ski races. The federation was founded on 10 June 1978 in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the ca ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Locations

Only one and the best race from a country can be a member of Worldloppet. There are (written 2015) 20 races, spread amongst Europe, America, Asia and Australia:

Racing distances

Actual racing distances may vary from year to year according to the local snow conditions, but usually, there are different categories: full distance (at least 42 km, the length of a non-skiing

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

(26 miles)) and shorter ones for children and less experienced skiers. For

Vasaloppet ( Swedish for 'the Vasa-race') is an annual long distance cross-country ski race held on the first Sunday of March. The course starts in the village of Berga, just south of Sälen in western Dalarna, Sweden, and ends in the town of Mora in t ...

, the oldest of the races, the full distance is about . Some races are freestyle (both skating and classic are allowed), but others only permit classic style.

Worldloppet Master

Those who complete Worldloppet races in 10 different countries, at least one of which is from a continent other than Europe, qualify as a Worldloppet Master. They qualify for Worldloppet Gold Master if they have completed 10 main races, or a Silver Master if they have competed 10 races where some or all of them are short races. As of October 2019 more than 5000 master titles have been issued.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Worldloppet websiteInternational Association of Worldloppet SkiersGatineau Loppet
Cross-country skiing Skiing organizations 1978 establishments in Sweden Sports organizations established in 1978 International sports organizations International organisations based in Italy