Tour Sprint champion Dahlqvist eyes Oberhof victory in Olympic push
Jan 15, 2026·Cross-Country)
The Women's 10km Mass Start Free in Val di Fiemme, Italy, known as the Final Climb, is widely regarded one of the toughest races of the Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup calendar.
The last event of Tour de Ski ends with a steep climb up an Alpine slope, but is also where the last points of the Tour's Sprint standings are awarded.
That was why Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) started the gruesome race on 4 January at a furious pace that few could match, sprinting it out to the Sprint bonus line with her teammate Johanna Hagstroem and Switzerland's Nadine Faehndrich chasing after.
"I knew that the Sprint bonus points were there, while the other Swedish girls – Moa (Ilar) and Ebba (Andersson) – had a good chance in the Overall. So I said that I would go for the Sprint points, and we were quite open about our tactics," Dahlqvist said.
The 31-year-old had been first in the Tour de Ski Sprint standings before the final event, but only with a three-point lead ahead of Haegstroem and defending Tour Sprint champion Faehndrich.
"I knew that Johanna would go for the Sprint, and I was fairly sure that Faehndrich would as well, because, like me, she hasn't historically been strongest on the climb and would want to go for the Sprint points," she said.
Dahlqvist took an early lead in the race and stayed in front for much of the first 7.4km. With a final push, she came first to the Sprint bonus mark, earning 15 points to claim the Tour de Ski Sprint title with a total tally of 53.
"We ended up in a good position," she said.
"I came out in front, and I thought I would just ski at a controlled pace. That section actually suits me quite well, because it felt calm and controlled for me, even though I've heard afterwards that others struggled a bit on that straight. It's a fairly technical section."
Andersson had been eighth in the Overall standings before the final event, and was going for a podium position, tucked in behind Dahlqvist. The teamwork paid off, also for Andersson who ended up with an Overall fourth place.
"Ebba was quite happy that I was leading, and then she almost slowed down a bit on the climb so that I could get a few meters on the others going for the Sprint. She felt I deserved it after I had pulled her all the way there," Dahlqvist said.
Faehndrich reached the Sprint line in second place to collect 10 points, making her total score 47 as she finished in second place in the Sprint standings. Hagstroem – third to the bonus points – completed the Sprint podium.
"It's really nice to win the Sprint title," Dahlqvist said.
"I had quite a good Tour, but I know that the Final Climb doesn't suit me at all, so it was extra fun that the Sprint competition was so close and that there was something extra to fight for on the final stage.
Dahlqvist, who won two consecutive Sprint World Cup titles in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons, said winning individual Sprint prizes "means a lot".
"As a sprinter, the Sprint World Cup and Sprint titles are bigger than the Distance World Cup," she said.
"Because the Distance skiers are often involved in the Overall as well, simply because there are so many more Distance races.
After the Sprint push, Hagstroem had to stop for a second to catch her breath. Dahlqvist, who had been ninth in the Overall standings before the Final Climb, slowed down to let the Distance experts take over the lead, but made sure to finish the race as well as possible.
"I think I got up the climb quite well," she said.
"I was in the top 10 Overall, so I thought that I should at least do everything I could to get as good an Overall result as possible, even after having won the Sprint."
Dahlqvist finished the race in 30th place, earning a 14th place in the Overall standings.
Her previously best Overall Tour de Ski result had come in the 2020/21 season, when she finished 19th place, having reached a second place in Val di Fiemme's Sprint Classic.
This year, she finished third in the Toblach Sprint Free to reach her only podium of the Tour, finishing fourth in Val di Fiemme's Sprint Classic.
Overall, Dahlqvist is pleased with her season so far. She is fifth in the Women's Overall standings and third behind leader Hagstroem and defending champion Jasmi Joensuu of Finland in the Sprint standings.
"It's been a solid and good season," she said.
"I've reached the final in four out of five Sprints, and the fifth was purely a tactical mistake in Trondheim where I just messed it up for myself. Otherwise, I've had my best Distance races ever as well, so overall it's been consistent and at a high level."
Dahlqvist said she has reduced her training volume a little for this Olympic season.
"Instead, I have included a few more hard Sprint sessions, consistently throughout the summer," she said.
"So I'd say I've trained a bit less in terms of volume, but with harder sessions."
Next up is a World Cup weekend in Oberhof, Germany, where the Cross-Country circuit is back for the first time in two years.
In January 2024, Dahlqvist made it to the Sprint Classic semi-final but was 0.08 of a second from a spot in the final race where three of four Swedes – winner Linn Svahn, runner-up Frida Karlsson and Jonna Sundling in third place – made a clean sweep at the podium.
"It was a pretty tough season for me and I don't really remember how it went," said Dahlqvist, who had to settle for a seventh place last time.
"It was probably nothing special, so I'm hoping for something better this time."
The Oberhof schedule includes a Sprint Free on Saturday and a 10km Interval Start Classic on Sunday.
"I hope to make another good Sprint," said Dahlqvist, who is chasing her first individual victory this winter.
"Now I've had a solid training block after the Tour, so it's about getting some speed back into the body and feeling sharp again. After that, I always just want to ski as well as I possibly can."
Oberhof is also another chance for Dahlqvist to show the Swedish team management that she is good enough for a spot in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games Sprint.
Because even as a three-time Team Sprint world champion, defending Olympic Sprint runner-up and No.3 in the World Cup Sprint standings, having just picked up a Tour de Ski Sprint trophy, Dahlqvist does not want to take anything for granted in the brutal competition of the Swedish women's team.
"They (the management) will make an overall assessment of the whole season, so the more good results you have, the better," she said.
After Oberhof, she will go to train at high altitude, before competing in the last pre-Games World Cup stage, in Goms, Switzerland, 23-25 January. Then it is time for the season's main event; racing for a first Olympic gold medal on the tracks of Val di Fiemme, a month after her Tour de Ski Sprint title there.
After claiming a Relay bronze and silver medals in the Sprint and Team Sprint in her Games debut at Beijing 2022, Dahlqvist will enter her second Olympic campaign chasing the finest of metals.
"First and foremost, I hope to get a start in the Sprint. That's the main thing," she said.
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