Norwegian Olympic and World Champion Therese Johaug returns to competitive sports. With regard to the 2025 World Championships in her own country, she will probably try to return to the top of the world. On Sunday, March 3, she will be the first race after the birth of her daughter to compete in the Engadin Women's Run.
The Engadin Women's Run takes place as part of the Engadin Marathon Week, which always ends with the Engadin Ski Marathon. With up to 14,000 participants, it is the second-largest cross-country skiing event in the world. Ten months after the birth of her daughter, Therese Johaug (35) is contesting a cross-country ski race here for the first time. The four-time Olympic champion and 14-time world champion is the figurehead of the 23rd Engadin women's race over 17 kilometers from Samedan to S-chanf. Johaug retired from competitive sports in 2022 and became a mother last May. In 2025, the Nordic World Ski Championships will take place in Trondheim, Norway.
Norwegian media have been speculating for a long time that Therese Johaug wants to run there. The athlete's immediate environment does not yet want to commit to this, but does not deny such intentions either. It is quite possible that Johaug will provide clarity during her visit to Engadin.
At the Engadin Women's Run, Therese Johaug meets an old acquaintance: Polish woman Justyna Kowalczyk (40) was one of her biggest opponents for years. Both became Olympic champions in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014). While Kowalczyk retired in 2020, Johaug dominated the Beijing 2022 games and won gold three times.
After their resignations, both athletes became mothers. Grisons Seraina Boner (41) is also running for victory in the 2024 women's run. In her long career, she has won the Birkebeiner four times, the Marcialonga twice and the Diagonela once and now wants to win the women's run for the first time. Another mother is likely to have a say in the top: Swiss biathlete Selina Gasparin (39), who resigned in 2022, is the mother of two daughters and now works as a biathlon trainer.
The biggest cross-country skiing festival in the Alps
More than 1,000 female participants are once again expected to take part in the Engadin Women's Run 2024. You can expect very good conditions. The trail from Samedan to S-chanf has been in very good condition since the beginning of winter. More fresh snow is expected in the coming days, which will once again transform the Engadin into a dream winter landscape. Registration for the Engadin Women's Run closes on Saturday, March 2, at 18:00.
The Engadin Women's Run is always the prelude to the Engadin Marathon Week, in which everything throughout the valley revolves around cross-country skiing. Four days later, on Thursday, March 7, the 17-kilometer Engadin night run will take place. It leads first across the ice of two frozen lakes and then through the mystical Stazer Forest.
On Sunday after the women's run, the 54th Engadin Ski Marathon follows. Up to 14,000 runners will take part. The Engadin Ski Marathon is the largest cross-country skiing event in the entire Alpine region and the second largest in the world. The participants each come from more than 60 countries. Scandinavia is the third largest region of origin after Switzerland and Germany.
contact
Engadin Ski Marathon
Menduri Kasper, CEO
+41 81 851 60 60
Information and registration for the Engadin Women's Run
https://www.engadin-skimarathon.ch/rennen/engadin-frauenlauf/anmeldung
Images for editorial use
https://www.engadin-skimarathon.ch/medien/medienbilder
Media release of the Engadin Ski Marathon dated February 22, 2024.
Christian Gartmann has been Communications and Media Officer at the Engadin Ski Marathon since 2014 and advises organizers on crisis management and crisis communication.