A superabsorbent polysaccharide can be obtained by crosslinking a polysaccharide or derivative thereof with at least 1% by weight of a flexible spacer having a chain length of at least 9 chain atoms and having terminal activated coupling groups. The flexible spacer may comprise a polyalkyleneglycol with a molecular weight from about 400 to 10,000. The coupling groups may be provided by divinyl sulphone units.