Armand Duplantis
What: Pole vault
When: Qualifying July 31, final August 3
Comment: Armand Duplantis won every single competition he competed in last year and this season has started in a similar way with victory in 11 of 13 competitions. Duplantis will compete during the Olympics in Tokyo, as so often, with competitors Sam Kendricks, USA, and the former world record holder Renaud Lavillenie, France.
But the big question in Duplanti’s case is not whether it will be a medal or not, but rather whether he will succeed in raising his own world record (6.18 meters) from Glasgow last year. The Swedish-American has tried several times this year without success. At the same time, Armand Duplantis said, when he jumped at Stockholm’s stadium recently, that he is happy with his form ahead of the Olympics.
– If you give me the big moment, I will go out there and perform. I feel confident in that, he said then.
Armand Duplanti’s jump outdoors this year
Graphics: Johan Andersson Source: Worldathletics
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Sarah Sjöström
– Sarah Sjöström slipped on an ice patch last winter and suffered a fracture of her elbow. This summer she made a competition comeback.
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
What: Swimming
When: 100 meters butterfly July 24-26, 100 meters freestyle July 28-30, 50 meters freestyle July 30 -1 August
Comment: With three medals from the Olympics in Rio 2016 and six world records, Sarah Sjöström is usually a clear medal favorite when it comes to swimming. But during the spring, the 27-year-old has struggled with an elbow injury and only had the opportunity to compete on two occasions. Despite this, Sarah Sjöström showed during the midsummer weekend that her form is heading in the right direction when she competed in Rome and won the 100 meter butterfly and came second in the 100 meter freestyle.
In her fourth Olympics, Sarah Sjöström competes in 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter freestyle. But it is still unclear whether the Swedish swimming star will participate in the 100 meter butterfly, the gold distance from Rio.
Swedish swimming medals during the 2000s – Olympics for the Olympics
Graphics: DN Source: Swedish Olympic Committee
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The women’s national football team
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What: Football
When: Group matches against USA (July 21), Australia (July 24) and New Zealand (July 27)
Comment: The women’s national football team is the first of all Swedes in the Olympics – and despite a tough group, with both world number one USA and Tony Gustavsson’s Australia, it is a strong Sweden that competes in Tokyo.
After the World Cup bronze in 2019, the national team has only lost three of 18 matches, the last of which was over a year ago. The squad also includes players such as Kosovar Asllani (Real Madrid), Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea), Fridolina Rolfö (Barcelona), Sofia Jakobsson (Bayern Munich) and Rosengård’s Caroline Seger.
Since women’s soccer was added to the Olympic schedule for the games in Atlanta, USA, 1996, Sweden has participated every time and won a medal – it was in Rio 2016 when it became a silver.
The hope is that the national team, ranked sixth in the world, can go really far even in Tokyo.
Daniel Ståhl
– Daniel Ståhl.
Photo: Jesper Zerman / Bildbyrån
What: Discussions
When: Qualifying July 30, final July 31
Comment: During his first Olympics, in Rio 2016, Daniel Ståhl missed the discus final and stated afterwards that he was “a little too kind”. Whether Daniel Ståhl has become meaner since then is hard to say – but he has at least received a lot of training on how it feels to win discus competitions.
For the last few years, it’s like he’s barely done anything else.
This year, Ståhl has thrown the longest in all competitions he has competed in except one. It looked the same last year and the year before that. But for 28-year-old Ståhl, who holds the Swedish record of 71.86 meters, it’s not just about winning anymore – like Armand Duplantis, he is looking to reach the world record.
In the discus was put by the East German Jürgen Schult who in 1986 threw 74.08.
This is how Daniel Ståhl has approached the world record – year by year
Graphics: Johan Andersson Source: World Athletics
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Perseus Karlström
– Perseus Karlström.
Photo: Joel Marklund / Bildbyrån
What: Walk
When: 5 August
Comment: Once upon a time, Sweden was a long-established nation with athletes such as John Mikaelsson (Olympic gold in London 1948 and in Helsinki 1952) at the helm. But during the second half of the 20th century, it has once again led a peripheral existence in the Swedish sports fauna. With Perseus Karlström, the hope is that it can change.
Sweden’s best pedestrian won bronze during the WC in Qatar 2019, which was the first Swedish gait medal ever on the men’s side in the WC context. In 2021, he has continued on the beaten path and in May, Karlström defended the European Championship title in the 20-kilometer walk and in the last competition before the Olympics, he took second place.
Anton Dahlberg / Fredrik Bergström, sailing, 470
– Anton Dahlberg, on the left, and Fredrik Bergström, on the right.
Photo: Sören Andersson / TT
What: Sailing, 470
When: Thursday 29 July-4 August
Comment: Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström began their joint venture after the London Olympics in 2012. Four years later, in Rio, it was a sixth place, but before the Olympics in Tokyo, the focus is on much higher positions than that.
This is hardly unexpected.
For only this year, the duo has won a World Cup gold and a European Championship bronze. After the bronze in May, Dahlberg talked about the importance of coming to Tokyo with mental wind in the sails to reach the ultimate goal: an Olympic gold.
– It gives us strength and direction to make absolutely the best possible preparations for the Olympics. We know what we can, stand for and believe in, he said then.
Swedish Olympic medals during the 2000s
Graphics: DN Source: Swedish Olympic Committee
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Jenny Rissveds
– Jenny Rissveds.
Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall / TT
What: Mountainbike
When: July 27th
Comment: Jenny Rissveds won a sensational gold medal in Rio 2016, even though she said before the Olympics that she was there to see and learn. It was Sweden’s first cycling gold during an Olympics in 40 years.
The time since then, however, has been sportingly messy for the 27-year-old who has struggled with both mental and physical problems. At the same time, Rissveds has this year been open with the fact that she has never been as well prepared for a season as now – and recently Jenny Rissveds has shown that she can once again be part of the battle for the top positions.
At the beginning of June, she took second place in the World Cup competition in Austria and a week or so later, she finished third in the short track in the last major competition before the Olympics.
The Swedish national judo team
– The Swedish national judo team consists of Robin Pacek, left, Marcus Nyman, center, Anna Bernholm, center, and Tommy Macias, right.
Photo: Lisa Mattisson
What: Judo
When: July 26th-July 28th
Comment: The Olympic branch of judo will return to its home country of Japan this summer – and for the Swedish part there are definitely medal chances.
Not least because Marcus Nyman as recently as a little over a month ago won his first World Cup medal ever when he won bronze after defeating the Japanese Kenta Nagasawa in the 90-kilo class.
But Tommy Macias also comes to Tokyo in great shape. Two days before Nyman’s bronze medal, he won World Cup silver in the 73-kilo class.
In addition to Nyman and Macias, Robin Pacek (81-kilo class) and Anna Bernholm (70-kilo class) are also in the Swedish judo squad.
Hopplandslaget
– Malin Baryard Johnsson.
Photo: Petter Arvidsson / Bildbyrån
What: Equestrian
When: August 1-August 7
Comment: It is an experienced Swedish national jumping team that travels to Japan. Together, Peder Fredricson, Malin Baryard Johnsson, Henrik von Eckermann and Rolf-Göran Bengtsson have participated in 14 Olympics, 15 World Cups and 24 European Championships. It can be a key factor after a year where the equestrian sport has been put on ice twice as a result of the corona pandemic and the contagious herpes virus EHV-1.
Expectations this time are high after the Swedes showed strong performances in the spring and summer. The jumping national team also has proud traditions in the Olympic context. In Rio, Peder Fredricson won individual silver – but to find the latest team medal, we have to back the band to Athens in 2004 when Sweden came second.
With that were Peder Fredricson, Malin Baryard Johnson and Rolf-Göran Bengtsson.
Swedish Olympic medals through the ages
From 1896 in Athens to 2016 in Rio, Sweden has won a total of 510.5 * medals.
Graphics: DN Source: Swedish Olympic Committee * Sweden and Denmark participated with three participants each in a combination team and got to share the gold in tug of war in Paris in 1900.
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Men’s national handball team
– The men’s national handball team lost the World Cup final against Denmark last winter.
Photo: Jonas Ekströmer / TT
What: Handball
When: Group matches against Bahrain (July 24), Japan (July 26), Portugal (July 28), Egypt (July 30) and Denmark (August 1)
Comment: The Swedish national team captain Glenn Solberg has been clear that the goal in Tokyo is to win Olympic gold. To help him, he has once again gathered the gang that surprisingly won World Cup silver last winter after losing the final against Denmark. In the Olympic squad, only Niclas Ekberg was not at the World Cup last winter.
The imaginary recipe for victory? Just like then the defensive game.
– We have conceded 24 goals on average in the 18 international matches I have had the national team and made 32, that is a good statistic. We want a good defensive game to be able to create counterattacks and maybe we can come up with some surprise in the Olympics, said Glenn Solberg in connection with the squad being taken out.
Read more: Do not miss this during the Olympics in Tokyo
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