Emelie Forsberg

Childhood and youth

Emelie Forsberg grew up in the small village Noraström in Kramfors Municipality, some 40 km (25 mi) north of Härnösand on Sweden's High Coast. Her father died when she was new-born and according to Forsberg her mother had a tough time combining work, studies and taking care of her two daughters. Orienteering, trekking, climbing, skiing, foraging for mushrooms and berries were an integral part of her life since she was very young.

In a 2017 public lecture Forsberg stated that between 15 and 20 years of age she defined herself as a climber. She moved to the Swedish mountains at age 18 and worked as a waitress in the Storulvån Mountain Lodge in the Åre Ski Area, where she convinced her boss to send her to a baking course. While living in Storulvån Forsberg ran in the mountains in her spare time for love of nature, for the fun of it and as a means of transportation.

Early career

Forsberg's first serious trail race was the Swedish Fjällmaraton in 2009. She had borrowed a backpack from a friend and brought a chokolate mud cake that she had baked. Before the last big ascent she stopped for 20 minutes and ate the cake, got new energy and won the race. Two years later she was back, did not stop to eat en route and improved her time by 30 minutes. In 2014 when an established world class runner Forsberg was back again, improved her time by another 30 minutes and set a new course record.

In 2011 Forsberg worked at the Turtagrø Hotel in Hurrungane on the outskirts of Jotunheimen National Park in Norway. In May 2012 she was invited to run in an international trail event, Zegama-Aizkorri Mendi Maratoia, where she finished in 3rd place. Her following trail event in July 2012, the Dolomites Skyrace, she won. Says Forsberg: "It was insane. It was cool to realize that what I had been doing in my solitude in the Swedish mountains was a big sport in the Alps". Forsberg moved from Storulvån to Tromsø in Norway, in order to study at the University of Tromsø, and run in the mountains there.

Prior to late 2012 Forsberg had no serious competition experience in ski mountaineering. Her first race was in Chamonix on December 9 where she placed third. Forsberg: "I was just back form The North Face 50 mile race in San Francisco and had maybe 3 days of skiing on a pair of Kilians old skis and said yes to join the race. Yeay! Oh man it was so fun! I didn´t really understod how the binding worked (I was a telemarker and a x country skier!)so I lost my skis in the uphill, I lost my skins and so many more small mistakes. But I enjoyed it, I had fun and I pushed hard." In late December she placed second in a Swedish race in Åre after losing her ski skins and running one out of eight laps on foot. Shortly after, in January 2013, she won the Norwegian Championship by seven minutes over her closest rival, upon which she embarked on another round of skiing so that she was not available for interviews after her victory. She followed up with Alpiniski later in the same month. In early February she became French champion in the vertical event and a week later won bronze medals in the sprint and vertical events at the World Championships.

Professional career

In the Skyrunning World Series Forsberg has been especially successful in the Ultra Series where she won every race in 2013-2015 except for the 2014 Trofeo KIMA where she took a wrong turn when four hours into the race and half an hour below the course record time; she descended 500 metres (1,600 feet) and had to ascend again, losing one hour, then worked her way back up the field to 2nd position. Apart from her favored ultra distance Forsberg runs races varying from the vertical kilometer to 100 miles (160 kilometres), usually finishing in the top five when not winning, and often competing on consecutive days or three days in a row, as in the 2015 the Rut where she ran the vertical kilometer on Friday, the Sky 25 km (16 mi) distance on Saturday and finishing off with the Ultra 50 km (31 mi) distance on Sunday, comfortably winning and setting a new course record.

Forsberg runs 10 km in 36 minutes. She is also a strong uphill runner as witnessed by her results in vertical kilometer races. But her real strength is downhill running where she constantly outruns her competitors and sets new records. Says Forsberg: "I’m so comfortable in that terrain so it doesn’t feel fast at all. Training helps and also I think it makes a lot of difference that I have always just played outside running on trails, rocks etc." Forsberg claims that she has only fallen twice while running, once during the 2014 Transvulcania race where she fell running uphill after being pushed from behind and sustained a hand and arm injury that required immediate medical care, once on a road when running with her boyfriend.

In ski mountaineering Forsberg's greatest achievement is in her own opinion winning the biennial Trofeo Mezzalama in 2015 with team mates Axelle Mollaret and Jennifer Fiechter, barely three minutes ahead of world champions Laëtitia Roux, Mireia Miró Varela and Séverine Pont-Combe and a full hour and a half ahead of the bronze laureats. Said Forsberg a few days later: "I almost feel like I could finish my career." As in Skyrunning she competes in all ski mountaineering distances, as well as team events. She is also able to transition fast from winter to summer events and vice versa; one week after winning the 2015 Trofeo Mezzalama race on skis she won the 73 km (45 mi) Transvulcania by half an hour for her first Skyrunner World Series win of the season. Forsberg herself keeps a low profile; in a 2013 interview she answered the question "What are your strengths in ski mountaineering?" thus: "Hmm. I don't have any direct strengths. I'm a bit mediocre both uphill and downhill, I'd say."

Forsberg is a member of the Salomon team that she joined in 2012, and is actively involved in the company's product development for trail running. In 2014 Forsberg and Kilian Jornet initiated and organized the first edition of the Tromsø Skyrace in Tromsø, Norway, part of the Skyrunner® World series from 2015. Forsberg does not have a trainer. Says Forsberg: "I like best to control everything myself. Moreover, there is no coach who thinks it is a good approach to compete in two seasons. So I go on my own."

ACL surgery

During the 2016 European Championships of Ski Mountaineering Forsberg broke her cruciate ligament on February 5 after a fellow competitor ran over her skis from behind. She had to abandon a season that had started better than ever, with Forsberg leading the International Ski Mountaineering Federation's World Cup Individual discipline. Prior to this serious injury Forsberg claimed that she had only been injured once (in the Transvulcania incident where she was pushed from behind running uphill), which she credits to taking good care of herself. Forsberg: "And also my love for pastries!". The ACL recovery process has been the subject of many Facebook and blog postings on Forsberg's part, including both rehab training and philosophy. Forsberg: "I think it's important to recognize hopelessness sometimes, but only for a short period of time, so it is important to seize the little hope that is there."

After her ACL surgery in early February 2016 Forsberg made her comeback in mid-June with three local Norwegian races where she ran uphill and walked downhill. On July 23 Forsberg won the Kendall Mountain run in Colorado and on August 5 the Blåmann Vertical in Tromsø, Norway, that is part of the Skyrunner World Series. On August 28 Forsberg was back on the top international skyrunning scene after winning the biennial Trofeo KIMA on her third attempt; in 2012 and 2014 she finished 2nd.

Two weeks after the skiing accident Forsberg started to practise yoga as one path to recovery. In August 2016 she announced in an interview: "I now go to India to do a course of 200 hours to become a teacher of Yoga. I think it will be something intense."

Mountaineering

In April 2017 Forsberg announced that she and Kilian Jornet would attempt to climb Cho Oyu, an Himalayan peak of 8,188 meters, with a light and fast style spending only two weeks away from home. As preparation the pair slept for two weeks in an altitude tent simulating an altitude of 5,500 to 6,000 meters, and trained for a week at 4,000 meters in the Alps. After 10 days at base camp a summit attempt was made but Forsberg turned around at 7,700 meters due to worsening weather. Jornet continued but is not sure whether he reached the summit since visibility was near zero. She then returned directly to Europe to start the skyrunning season while Jornet stayed to make an attempt on Mount Everest. After her first race Forsberg commented on social media: "... it was still emotional from being awake the whole night waiting for Kilians message saying he was down. Well, cheers to the start of the season, from now it can only be better!"

Teams

Forsberg has competed for the following teams and clubs:

Motivation and values

Forsberg in 2016: "I have started to take pride in being a strong athlete, because 2012 I didn’t think at all that I was strong. I just did what I loved and I happened to be good at it. For me now it’s important to know that I can improve, have the motivation for it, and make a plan of how to get my athletic goal fulfilled. Now I also know how hard it is to be a professional athlete, you need to be motivated and never give up!" "Racing has only been a part of my life since four years, but nature and my passion for being outside– running/skiing/climbing/picking berries/walking/having a picnic/ gardening/farming–has always been there and I would not let anything take away my passion for that. That’s who I am… That is who I define myself as. I don’t define myself as a racer or competitor. But yes, I love winning, of course, it’s big, but at the same time it doesn’t matter at all."

In 2015 Forsberg wrote a blog entitled "Relationship mind, body and soul" that was widely cited in media for its balanced approach to food and weight in competitive running. Forsberg's concluding remark: "Love your hips, breasts, butt and belly. The fat keeps you warm. And healthy." Forsberg says that she follows no restricted diet and takes no food supplements. Forsberg: "I believe everything is good for you in small amount and as natural as possible."

Forsberg is a vegetarian and is fond of gardening. In the garden plot of the house on the outskirts of the valley in Chamonix that Forsberg shared with her boyfriend Kilian Jornet she cultivated green beans, pumpkin, squash, radish, beetroot, various salads, broccoli, cauliflower, and some herbs. Forsberg "It's a dream I've had a long time, to be half self-sufficient and I think about the ecological impact. Thanks to my lifestyle as it looks now, I can give it priority." On the small farm in Måndalen the opportunities for gardening are even better and Forsberg has expanded her ambitions in this area. She also devotes a separate Instagram account to the subject: "Måndalen Country living" (see External links below].

Personal life

In February 2016 Forsberg and Kilian Jornet bought a house in Måndalen in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal. Prior to that the couple lived in a remodelled old mill in the hamlet Montroc outside of Chamonix in France. Both make a living from skyrunning and ski mountaineering.

Forsberg started studies to become a forester in 2005 but decided that the curriculum was not what she had anticipated. Four years later she instead started to study for a Masters degree in biology at University of Umeå in Sweden and University of Tromsø in Norway. Her Masters deposition is on hold while she concentrates on training and racing professionally. At the University of Umeå Forsberg participated in the school's program for elite athletes, designed to facilitate academic studies in parallel with intensive training and competition. She loves to bake and eat buns after working a while as a baker. At times her recipes appear on her blog under the heading Recipes from a mountain lover. Forsberg is very active on social media and has over 130 000 followers on Facebook (May 2017).

On 7 September 2013 Forsberg and Kílian Jornet were rescued by the PGHM (Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne) on the Frendo spur of the North Face of Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif close to Chamonix, France, in degenerating weather and with inadequate equipment for the situation. Both were extremely apologetic afterwards.

Forsberg's sister Evy Tess Therese Forsberg is an accomplished sportswoman who has competed on the Scotland women's national rugby sevens team and become European Weightlifting Champion.

Skyrunning

The following list includes Forsberg's results in skyrunning. Some of the early events are not skyrunning, but rather traditional trail runs. These are included for the sake of completeness.

Some races are denoted as VK and others as vertical km; in both cases it means that runners go up a steep hill with 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) vertical elevation difference between start and finish.

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Ski mountaineering

The following list includes Forsberg's results in ISMF ski mountaineering races.

Fastest Known Time (FKT)