+ The football saga that echoed in the football world
Anders Torstensson, the Mjällby coach, was already widely talked about last year when he spoke about his cancer. This year he generated more uplifting headlines when he led Mjällby to the club's first Allsvenskan SM gold medal - a campaign that also set a points record for Sweden's top football league. The success attracted global coverage, including US outlets and the BBC and The Guardian.
+ Swedish championship successes
Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis captivated athletics fans in Tokyo - and he did not disappoint at the World Championships, winning gold and setting a world record of 6.30 metres. The Swede was not the only one to leave Japan with a medal. Daniel Ståhl also won gold at the Budapest World Championships in 2023, securing victory with his final throw in the discus final. Andreas Almgren took Sweden's first World Championships medal in long-distance running, a bronze in the 10,000 metres.
Biathlete Elvira Öberg enjoyed great success at the World Championships in Lenzerheide. In the mass start, she shot outstandingly in the final, held off the field and won by nine seconds.
Table tennis player Truls Möregårdh became the first European to win a Grand Smash tournament - and he did it in front of his home crowd in Malmö.
The Swedish women's national team swept the World Ski Championships in Norway: five gold medals out of a possible five. Jonna Sundling and Ebba Andersson each took three gold medals, including one in the long relay.
The Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide were another huge Swedish success. Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonathan Hellvig followed up their title from Paris with another championship gold. In the final, they defeated the blue-yellow upstarts and World Championship debutants Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson.
Åhman and Hellvig were later awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal for Merit.
+ Tough year for the national football team
Jon Dahl Tomasson took over the men's national football team and changed their style of play - an experiment that didn't work out for several reasons. At the same time, it's hard to ignore the timing of stars Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres. They went on strike to force a club transfer - and they never reached peak form during Sweden's World Cup qualifiers.
Tomasson was fired and replaced by Graham Potter.
Despite the debacle in qualifying, the men's national team still has a chance to reach the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico via the March playoffs.
The women's national team lost the European Championship quarter-final to England after a penalty shootout. In focus: Hammarby's 18-year-old super talent Smilla Holmberg, who missed the final penalty.
"It will probably take a while to digest," she told P4 Stockholm.
+ The stars on the other side
Pelle Larsson has shown he belongs in the NBA. The Swede, in his second year in the league, is shining and gaining the coach's trust.
NHL star William Nylander earns a whopping $110 million per season with Toronto - and he delivers. He consistently produces points and sets records, but perhaps most of all he is one of the players the hockey-mad city's club builds its team around.
Ludvig Åberg helped lead Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup, winning two of four matches. He also picked up his second career victory on the PGA Tour when he won The Genesis in February.
