Niels van der Poel to ice cold international congress in Karlstad, Sweden

Next year the city of Karlstad, Sweden, will host The 10th International Winter Cycling Congress on 22–24 February 2023, together with the Winter Cycling Federation, at Karlstad Congress Culture Center. It will be three full days with everything you need to know about winter cycling. One of the speakers who will inspire the audience is the world record holder and double Olympic medalist, Niels van der Poel.

The theme for the congress will be ”Winter biking for health and sustainable cities” and will rase many interesting questions and topics. What will it take to get people to cycle all year around and not stop when it gets cold and icy? What does the citizens in a city need to transport themselves in a safe, healthy, environment friendly way? During these days in Karlstad, Sweden, the visitors will get inspiration and learn from good examples from Sweden and other countries to help solve these questions.

- The congress will raise winter cycling from different angles. It will be exciting panel discussions as well as talks and lectures from our speakers. Our visitors can also expect to try live winter cycling as well, says Joachim Gustafsson, chairman of the congress steering group, Karlstad municipal.

Anna Olsson, Project Manager adds:

- We have got a really exciting mix of speakers, for instance Nils van der Poel who will talk about motivation and that we are capable to whatever we decide to do. There will be many knowledgeable professionals in environment, street operations and street maintenance, health and safety and children’s everyday movement. Paralympics Anna Beck and Louise Jannering will tell us about challenges and impossible situations in traffic.

An other interesting point in the program is the story behind “The Karlstad Brine”. It is a mixture of salt solution which keeps the roads free from ice longer, which is great for winter cycling. The inventor is Tomas Stomberg, who will be present at the congress and answer questions and maybe even invite you to his garage for whomever is interested.  

First time in Sweden

It is the first time as The 10th Winter Cycling Congress will take place in Sweden. It is a yearly event where experts from the whole world will gather and discuss subject related to cycling in cities.

- We are very proud to host The 10th Winter Cycling Congress as well as showing off The City of Karlstad as a bike cycling city. We are looking forward to a meeting arena with participant from politics, city planners, municipal operations in road and building maintenance, schools, health and environment and interesting exhibitors, says Monika Bubholz, (Miljöpartiet) municipal council and politician, Karlstad municipal.

The 10th Winter Cycling Congress is a rotating congress which has been arranged since 2013 in cities all over the world. Previous hosting nations is Oulu (Finland), Leeuwarden (Netherlands), Minneapolis (USA), Montreal and Calgary (Canada).    

Find out more about The 10th Winter Cycling Congress: wcc2023.se

For more information please contact: 

Joachim Gustafsson, chairman of the congress steering group, Karlstad municipal: 0046 (0)54-540 68 74

Anna Olsson, Project Manager: 0046 (0)70 556 8824

Monika Bubholz, (Miljöpartiet) municipal council and politician, Karlstad municipal. 0046 (0)54-540 12 85

Mimmi Bengtsson, communicator, Karlstad municipal: 0046 (0)54-540 22 62