Kranskulla

A kranskulla ("Wreath Maiden") (after kulla) is a Swedish woman appointed annually to give the winner of the skiing competition Vasaloppet a laurel victory wreath by hanging it around his neck. A man doing the same task for women winners is called kransmas ("Wreath Man").

2008 kranskulla at Vasaloppet, Caroline Westling.

Kransmas Erik Smedhs and Vibeke Skofterud, 2012

History

At the first Vasaloppet, the organizers had ordered a victory wreath from gardener Linqvist. As he walked to the finish line to deliver the wreath, he spotted two women, Therese Eliasson and Svea Romson, dressed in their finest folk costumes and asked if one of them would like to hang the wreath around the neck of the winner. Eliasson accepted even if she was a little worried about how to do this if the winner was tall since she herself was small. However, when the winner Ernst Alm approached the finish line, he stumbled and fell to his knees and thus she had no problem fulfilling her task.[1]

The first kransmas was not appointed, but rather a male skier from IFK Mora, Mikael Stenqvist, who in 1985 was asked by the organizers to perform a small "coup". He was dressed in folk costume and waited just before the finish line with a wreath for the first female skier to appear. It was Maria Canins-Bonaldi from Italy who got the wreath.[1]

In 2006, Martin Johansson was appointed kransmas. He made the race himself, finishing in 44th place and had 15 minutes to change before hanging the victory wreath around the neck of women winner Italian Christina Paluselli.[1]

Function

A kranskulla is a Swedish woman appointed annually to give the winner of the skiing competition Vasaloppet a victory laurel wreath by hanging it around his neck.[2] Mostly the kranskulla stands about 100 m (330 ft) from the finish line to give the winner (if it is apparent at that time) his wreath.[3] She is dressed in the traditional folk costume of Dalarna.[1]

A man doing the same task for women winners is called kransmas ("Wreath Man").[2][lower-alpha 1] This title became relevant with the event of the women's race, Tjejvasan in 1988. During the year they have been appointed for, the kranskulla and kransmas serve as ambassadors for the race.[1]

Criteria

To be eligible for kranskulla, a women must be unmarried, have distinguished herself in sports, worked at sports events and competitions. Her father's or other family members' sports merits are also taken into consideration. She must also represent one of the sports clubs IFK Mora or Sälens IF.[1]

The criteria for the kransmas is that he must be a member of sports clubs IFK Mora or Sälens IF, a good representative and example for sports and/or a good sports coach, sports official or active in sports.[1]

In other competitions

Other competitions have adapted the use of kranskulla and kransmas after Vasaloppet. Even though these persons are not from Dalarna, the term and the old dialectal form has remained in the title. Since 1968, a kranskulla has been appointed for cross country running competition Lidingöloppet.[4] Both a kranskulla and kransmas are appointed for open water swimming competition Vansbrosimningen.[5] Cross-country ski race Skinnarloppet has a kranskulla,[6] as do bicycle race Storsjön Runt.[7]

Vasaloppet

Women and men appointed kranskulla and kransmas for Vasaloppet.[8]

Kranskulla 1922 – Therese Eliasson 1923 – Hilma Ström 1924 – Maja Lundgren 1925 – Elsa Cederlund 1926 – Aina Pers 1927 – Lea Ström 1928 – Stina Eriksson 1929 – Elin Henriksson 1930 – Ethel Eriksson 1931 – Anna-Britta Mattsson 1932 – Cancelled 1933 – Margit Nilsson 1934 – Cancelled 1935 – Marianne Edling 1936 – Inga-Greta Landeck 1937 – Gerda Berg 1938 – Majt Sundin 1939 – Anna-Greta Pettersson 1940 – Kerstin Cassel 1941 – Ingrid Asplund 1942 – Britt Herdin 1943 – Elsa Karlsson 1944 – Margareta Julin 1945 – Kerstin Sars 1946 – Elsa Sars 1947 – Nina Lindén 1948 – Ann-Mari Andersson 1949 – Kerstin Norlin 1950 – Karin Bergström 1951 – Inga Nyström 1952 – Åsa Mattson-Djos 1953 – Anna-Greta Beus 1954 – Birgitta Heimer 1955 – Kerstin Ingemansson 1956 – Gun Larsson 1957 – Barbro Persson 1958 – Anna-Greta Mattsson 1959 – Margareta Åhs 1960 – Maivor Olsson 1961 – Marianne Eriksson 1962 – Ann.Mari Hansson 1963 – Anita Håkansson 1964 – Anita Rosendahl 1965 – Gudrun Nilsson 1966 – Eva Runesson 1967 – Christina Fernström 1968 – Karin Abrahamsson 1969 – Christina Spansk 1970 – Karin Karlsson (now Green) 1971 – Ingegärd Backlund 1972 – Marianne Karlsson 1973 – Gunilla Lannerbro 1974 – Anna Mattsson 1975 – Lena Banck 1976 – Åsa Mattsson 1977 – Christina Andersson 1978 – Gunilla Lund 1979 – Britta Samuelsson 1980 – Inga-Britt Ax 1981 – Åsa Norell 1982 – Anna-Karin Winberg 1983 – Mait Eriksson 1984 – Marie Andersson 1985 – Eva Hermansson 1986 – Camilla Carlberg 1987 – Sara Kans 1988 – Karin Värnlund 1989 – Eva Lönn 1990 – Cancelled 1991 – Christel Asp 1992 – Maria Gustavsson 1993 – Helena Gezelius 1994 – Isabell Andersson 1995 – Malin Brandt 1996 – Katrin Svensson 1997 – Marika Engström 1998 – Ida Holmberg 1999 – Maria Wik 2000 – Emma Stefansson 2001 – Catharina Asph 2002 – Maria Bergqvist 2003 – Åsa Östberg 2004 – Lena Hermansson 2005 – Eva Lif 2006 – Julia Limby 2007 – Eva Svensson 2008 – Caroline Westling[9] 2009 – Sandra Brander 2010 – Helene Söderlund 2011 – Frida Dahl 2012 – Johanna Axelsson 2013 – Isabelle Jansson 2014 – Lisa Englund 2015 – Viktoria Stärner 2016 – Hanna Eriksson[10] 2017 – Lydia Sundin

Kransmas 1988 – Axel Jungward 1989 – Mattias Helgesson 1990 – Cancelled 1991 – Erik Frykberg 1992 – Erik Eriksson 1993 – Jonas Orsén 1994 – Staffan Larsson 1995 – Mikael Helgesson 1996 – Thomas Sparr 1997 – Jonas Buud 1998 – Torbjörn Schedvin 1999 – Stefan Hansson 2000 – Thomas Eriksson 2001 – Niklas Karlsson 2002 – Mikael Hedh 2003 – Andreas Johansson 2004 – Niclas Jacobsson 2005 – Markus Leijon 2006 – Martin Johansson 2007 – Lars Suther 2008 – Joakim Engström 2009 – Jonas Nilsson 2010 – Johan Öhagen 2011 – Anders Solin 2012 – Erik Smedhs 2013 – André Gatu 2014 – Daniel Svensson 2015 – Victor Gustafsson 2016 – Johan Wellert[10] 2017 – Linus Rapp

Notes

1. Mas is an older dialectal name for "man" in Dalarna.

References

1. "Kranskulla och kransmas". www.vasaloppet.se. Vasaloppet. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
2. "Här är nästa års kranskulla och kransmas". svt.se. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
3. "Langd.se : Kranskulla och kransmas utsedda till Vasaloppet och TjejVasan". Retrieved 30 May 2015.
4. "Kranskullor". www.lidingoloppet.se. Lidingöloppet. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
5. Thomsen, Sven (16 June 2015). "De möter vinnarna i Vansbrosimningen" [They meet the winners in Vansbrosimningen]. www.dalademokraten.se. Dala-Demokraten. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
6. "Kranskulla". www.skinnarloppet.se. Skinnarloppet. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
7. "Kranskulla vinnare". www.storsjonrunt.se. Storsjön Runt. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
8. "Vasaloppet" (PDF). www.vasaloppet.se. Vasaloppet. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
9. "Langd.se : Här är årets kransmas och kranskulla". Retrieved 30 May 2015.
10. Johansson, Johanna (25 November 2016). "De är kransmas och kranskulla 2016" [They are kransmas and kranskulla 2016]. Sveriges Television. Sveriges Television. Retrieved 6 March 2016.