NEWS Maja Lindström, a PhD student in network science at Umeå University, won a bronze medal in ski mountaineering during the Swedish Championship – despite never having competed in the discipline before. She credits extraordinary support from colleagues and her competitive spirit for her successful foray into a new sport.
Maja Lindström, PhD student in the Department of Computing Science and IceLab, stands next to the 'Giant Maja' her friends made.
Image Gabrielle BeansAt Umeå University, Maja Lindström can be found at IceLab, the interdisciplinary research environment Integrated Science Lab. She is an industrial PhD student at the Department of Computing Science in collaboration with Sift Lab. Her research focuses on networks—be they biological, social, or information-based—and how they are structured and clustered.
She is not only a researcher, however – she is also an active sports-loving person. Recently, upon hearing that the Swedish Championship was going to held in Umeå, she decided to try a new sport: ski mountaineering, or ‘skimo’ as it is also known.
Maja enjoys skiing and had previously walked up and skied down mountains for fun, but had never competed in skimo, a relatively new sport which premiered at the Winter Olympics for the first time in 2026. In fact, she only trained once before the competition. “I’ve heard about the sport, but I didn’t know exactly how it worked – there are a lot of rules I had to learn on the same day of the competition.”
Despite the high stakes of a national championship, Maja entered the race with an adventurous, curious spirit. “I knew there were professional skiers there and I'm not professional at all when it comes to this. It was just a fun thing to do,” she shared.
Maja Lindström, PhD student in the Department of Computing Science and IceLab, works at her desk surrounded by the signs her friends made to support her during the skimo Swedish Championship race.
ImageGabrielle BeansThe race was quite dramatic, with the top skier, Johanna Gelfgren, losing her ski at the start and winning the race regardless. “She was amazing!” exclaimed Maja.
Meanwhile, Maja stayed focused through the exhaustion of the climb and the stress of the technical transitions – clipping in and out of the skis, removing skins, and racing downhill. After passing the fourth-place skier at the top of the mountain, she realized she was on her way to securing a bronze medal she never expected to get.
She brought that bronze medal into her workplace in IceLab on Monday and shared her excitement about the medal with her friends and colleagues – and not just because she had earned a spot on the podium. “I was excited to see the medal was engraved by the same person who engraved the Nobel Prize medals. As a scientist, that felt extra special.”
Maja Lindström shows her bronze medal to friends and colleagues in IceLab
ImageGabrielle BeansMaja’s success was fueled by a massive wave of support from her colleagues and friends, many of whom also work in IceLab. Abigail Rec, a postdoc at IceLab, described the group as “the loudest and most enthusiastic contingent on the mountain”. The team spent three hours crafting signs, including a "Giant Maja" cutout. For Maja, this support was an inspiration that gave her energy before and during the race.
“I saw when they came to the arena with all the signs and that was kind of amazing. It meant so much during the race because I could hear them all the way around - they were screaming so loudly! You can even hear them in the SVT recording.”
Maja Lindström and Abigail Rec pose in front of IceLab's fish tank with some of the signs her friends created to support her during her race.
ImageGabrielle BeansMaja indicates that this kind of all-in support is typical of IceLab and its members. She describes IceLab as a collaborative environment where colleagues support each other—both in research and beyond. Whether it is a national sporting event or helping a colleague move house, Maja emphasizes that the IceLab community is always there for one another.
She credits this environment with giving her the final push to compete. “I think my friends in IceLab definitely helped because they pushed me a little bit... they said, ‘Of course you should do this!'”. Her supervisor, Martin Rosvall, who is also a competitive skier, was very supportive of her participation as well.
The week after the race, she was back at her desk working on network models. When asked if she would enter future skimo competitions, she mentioned that the national team coach contacted her regarding a training camp next winter. “It's always fun to try something new,” she commented.
Not one to wait until next winter, she added that she actually skied the day after in another competition– the Bräntberget 1H, a one-hour race where participants complete as many rounds up and down Bräntberget as they can. She did ten laps and came in second – and her friends came out to support her once more.
