The high jump world champion became the most important gatekeeper of Swedish athletics.
- The high jump world champion will ultimately decide who Sweden will leave out of the competition machine.
- The criteria are much stricter than in Finland. Sweden left eligible athletes out of the World Championships.
- Kajsa Bergqvist describes Budapest’s performance as a jackpot.
– An athlete must be able to fight for a place in the semi-finals on a good day, and not just participate in the World Championships, director of the Swedish national athletics team Kajsa Bergqvist line.
After his career, the Olympic medalist and world champion in the high jump has become the biggest gatekeeper of Swedish athletics, with the power to decide who goes to prestigious competitions.
The above-mentioned strict philosophy is completely different from Finland.
The Finnish Sports Confederation (SUL) previously decided that all eligible athletes will be sent to the 2022–2024 prestigious competitions. At the World Championships in Budapest, it meant the poop of 40 athletes.
There were 32 Swedish athletes in Budapest.
– We have clear boundaries because we want a certain level for the games. It’s not that every athlete should make it to the finals. Sometimes the ranking just doesn’t show the whole truth, says Bergqvist.
Finns out
Kajsa Bergqvist has the final say on who gets to the World Cup. Jussi Saarinen
In Sweden, the athletes who broke the World Cup limit were selected for Budapest if they could demonstrate their good results and health before the prestige games. The competition program had to enable good performances also along the Danube.
If, on the other hand, the athlete was in the World Championships based on ranking points, at least one of the three criteria set by the Swedish Federation had to be met in order to get a trip to the competition. The criteria were:
1) The athlete does the top result determined by the association or a better quotation in the off-season of 2023. If the top quotation was from March-April, the condition had to be shown in the summer.
2) The athlete has a previously defined good enough result level in 2–3 competitions in the 2023 season.
3) This season, the athlete belongs to the top 36 of the International Association of Athletics Federations’ world list in his sport, when the list has the top three per country and the results of the banned countries have been removed.
Joonas Rinne would not have made it to 800 meters based on the Swedish criteria. PASI LEISMA
For example, the top time required in men’s 800 meters in point 1 should have been 1.45.85. At least two results between 1.45.86 and 1.46.45 were required for the season.
Canceled place in the Finnish team Joonas Rinne would have canceled Sweden’s qualification. He would have experienced the same fate in the 200 meters Aino Pulkkinen.
– If you get a lot of results that fit the criteria, you can qualify for the games. You can get the selection if you show that you are in good shape, says Bergqvist.
Sweden determined its result limit based on the results of the previous World Championships, the top results of the world season and the result limits that preceded the ranking system. In the borderline case, the final choice was made by Bergqvist.
A special choice
Khaddi Sagnia was sixth in last year’s World Cup final. PASI LEISMA
The Swedish team still had one special World Cup selection.
Long jumper Khaddi to Sagnia there was a break from competition for more than two months due to a knee injury, but the woman made it to Budapest. Sagnia is an EC bronze medalist from the year 2021.
At last year’s World Championships, Sagnia was sixth, but missed the bronze by only two centimeters.
– Sagnia is a maximum capacity athlete who did fantastically in last year’s World Championships. He trained well during the summer. That’s why the opportunity arose, Bergqvist explains.
– The opportunity didn’t exactly bring a reward. Of course, it was difficult to come from that situation to the World Championships, he refers to Sagnia’s failure to qualify.
A middle distance runner experienced a different fate Wilma Nielsen. The Swedish athlete would have qualified for the Games in the 800 meters through the ranking, but the federation left him out of the race.
– This hurts, Nielsen wrote on his Instagram.
Nielsen has never run the results required by the Swedish Federation for the World Championships, i.e. under 2:01.60.
– In my career, I also had to fulfill the selection criteria and show that I was both fit and healthy. The ranking system only made the matter even more concrete. It’s always been necessary to show what you’re capable of, Bergqvist justifies.
– The majority appreciate it and consider it a good thing. Of course, the outsiders don’t agree.
Jackpot
Bergqvist considers the selection policy kind. Jussi Saarinen
Leaving eligible people on the beach has been talked about, for example, in Great Britain. 800m Olympic finalist Alexandra Bell didn’t get a WC place, even though he broke the result limit.
– Our borders are much nicer than in Germany, Holland and France. Great Britain has the strictest criteria. We have to be at a certain level to get to the World Championships, Bergqvist points out.
Success was not hindered by strict politics. Sweden won three medals from the World Championships: the men’s pole vault and discus throw world championships and the men’s 20 km walk World Cup silver.
– I’m crazy proud! It was a jackpot. We had three medal candidates who were 100% successful. However, we could have been maybe more in places 4–12.