Axelina Johansson is one of two Swedish shot putters in the squad for the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland. Fanny Roos is the other, and she is making her mark for Sweden.
Johansson says her college stint was successful because she ended up in a good training group with good coaches and good facilities at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. But she believes she could have developed just as well if she had stayed in Sweden.
But I have developed as a person. I've had to learn English and learn about many different cultures, says Johansson.
Also getting paid now
National team captain Kajsa Bergqvist, a former high jumper, has attended college herself. She says an athletics career can be successful in college if you go to a school with a good athletics program and coach.
It has become even more attractive in recent years because many also receive a salary from sponsors for representing these school teams, not just tuition, housing, food and access to training, says Bergqvist.
However, there is a downside, especially for runners.
Over the years, there have been examples where athletes are heavily exploited, as they have a cross-country season in the fall, followed by an indoor season and then an outdoor season that starts almost immediately. Then you have to run several distances in a competition, perhaps relays, to collect as many points as possible for the school, says Bergqvist.
Competed a lot – got injured
Middle-distance runner Wilma Nielsen is one of those who suffered an injury, likely from the heavy competition schedule.
Last year it was maybe too much and I injured my thigh after the indoor season. So I had to sit out the outdoor season, but was able to run well during the summer European season, says Nielsen.
For shot putter Fanny Roos, the home option was perfect.
"I never thought about college. I went to the athletics high school in Växjö, where I really enjoyed it, so I stayed there after graduation," says Roos.
But can everyone make an equally good investment in Sweden?
"There are colleges that are trying to tailor the education to make it work. But the whole package available at good schools in the US is difficult to match with the Swedish system," says Kajsa Bergqvist.
Right now, around 110 Swedish athletes are attending around 90 universities and colleges in the US. Most of them are not part of Sweden's elite, but the majority are applying for sports scholarships to get the chance to study in the US.
Approximately ten are "Swedish Americans", Swedish citizens who often have dual citizenship and whose families live in the United States permanently.
Of the ten Swedes competing in the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, Wilma Nielsen, Vera Sjöberg and Axelina Johansson are currently studying in the US, and all three are now in their final semester. Armand Duplantis and Thobias Montler only attended college for one academic year.
Khaddi Sagnia, Louise Ekman, Fanny Roos, Samuel Pihlström and Wiktor Petersson have made their development entirely in Sweden.
Source: Athletics expert A. Lennart Julin.
