Broke all the “unwritten rules” - became the best

In March, Alvar Myhlback became the youngest ever to win Vasaloppet. On July 25, he beat the World Cup stars and Ski Classics legends yet again. The Swedish teenager, who won the legendary Vasaloppet race and came within a split second of beating Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in a sprint this winter, cruised to victory at the Trysil Sprint.

“It wasn’t a shock,” Myhlback told Langrenn.com after the prestigious show sprint in Trysil. “But if there had been more international competition, I probably wouldn’t have won.”

Then, on August 6, he beat them all in the Blink Classics in Sandnes.

This Swedish junior is making the ski world’s jaw drop — and he’s been doing it for years.

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Dominating the Seniors as a Teen

At just 15, Myhlback won the Craft Ski Marathon overall, but was disqualified for being too young to race.

The next year, he got the Swedish Ski Federation to change the rules on how far juniors can race. Months later, he finished 8th in the Vasaloppet — at age 16.

In 2024, he finished third, becoming the youngest person ever on the podium at Vasaloppet.

And in March, at just 18, he won the race after a furious finishing sprint, breaking the previous “youngest winner” record by more than three years — a record that had stood for over a century. Before him, Ernst Alm held it, winning the very first Vasaloppet in 1922 at age 22.

He’s also won FIS sprint races and placed third overall in Norway’s Toppidrettsveka in 2023, behind only Klæbo and Simen Hegstad Krüger. This winter, he missed beating Klæbo in a sprint by just two-tenths of a second.

But even though he won two golds at the 2024 Junior World Championships, he wasn’t picked for this year’s team — and publicly criticized the decision.

In May, Myhlback announced he would now focus fully on long-distance races, signing a new contract with Lager 157 Ski Team, the Ski Classics squad that’s supported him since his breakout at 15.

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“Everything Changed When We Moved to Trysil”

When Langrenn.com spoke with Myhlback, he credited Norway — specifically Trysil — for shaping his career.

From ages 11 to 15, his family lived in the small Norwegian ski town. With little else to do, he skied for hours — morning and evening.

Before that, he was like most kids: soccer, other sports, a bit of everything. But moving to Trysil flipped a switch.

“When I was 12, I trained an extreme amount for my age,” he said. “But there wasn’t much else to do there except ski. It was a great time, I really liked Trysil, and it feels like my second home. If the roller-ski track had been a little better, it would’ve been perfect.”

Breaking All the Rules

During those years, skiing was basically all he did outside school. For the first time, he revealed just how much:

“I was doing about 600 hours a year when I was 12 or 13. Honestly, that was more extreme for my age than what I do now. These days I’m between 900 and 1,000 hours a year,” he said.

That’s way more than experts recommend for kids. Did you ever think about that?

“No.”

Did coaches ever bring it up?

“All the time,” he laughed. “People told me I’d burn out or ruin myself. But I’m still here. We’ll see what happens, but I don’t think it was so dangerous. I just trained that much because I enjoyed it, not because anyone told me to.”

He often trained with Petter Myhr, who’s six years older and now skis for Team Bygdø – the same team that Myhlback skied for while he lived in Trysil.

What’s Next?

“It’s impossible to say exactly how much those Trysil years meant, but clearly things have gone well so far,” Myhlback said.

Despite already having world junior titles and a Vasaloppet win before being old enough to drive, he says he’s far from done:

“There’s still so much I haven’t won: The other big Ski Classics races, the yellow jersey. And if I went back to traditional cross-country, the Olympics and World Championships would be long-term goals.”

And what about your personal life?

“I guess I could make time for girls,” he laughed. “But I love putting my time into what I’m really good at.”