– So even though I am most proud of my individual medals, I must say that my team competition medals were the most fun. It’s a special feeling when you do something together with three other guys. This makes it easier to pick out that primordial power, Frölander continues.
– Something that you also take with you to the individual races.
On a big screen the restaurant’s dining room shows some of the great team racing moments in Swedish swimming history.
The national team captain Martina Aronsson has gathered seven male swimmers for a team race camp in Stockholm to give them inspiration and goals to strive for.
At the end, she has invited the multiple championship medalists Lars Frölander and Stefan Nystrand to share their experiences.
Both Frölander and Nystrand ended their careers several years ago, but this evening they are taken back in time when they get to see some of their races on screen.
The questions to them are many and are about everything from how they thought when they decided who would swim which distance to how often they trained on shifts.
During question time, it also becomes clear what idols they have been for the next generation of swimmers.
On several occasions, it is one of the seven participants who has better control of the exact times that Frölander and Nystrand did in certain races than they themselves have.
– I remember when I saw Lasse and Stefan swimming the Olympics. The two triggered me to invest in swimming because I also wanted to experience it, says national team swimmer Isak Eliasson.
The latest 10-15 years It has been the ladies – led first by Therese Alshammar and then Sarah Sjöström – who have driven Swedish swimming forward.
Sure, there have been some male joys such as breaststroke swimmer Erik Persson, but they have been few.
Something that has been noticed in the big championships. The last time Sweden competed in an Olympic team race was in 2008.
– In my last Olympics (London 2012), Lasse (Frölander) and I were the only men in the Swedish squad. I remember thinking it was boring. For Lasse it was his sixth Olympics and his first where we did not have a team, and for me my fourth, says Stefan Nystrand.
Now, however, there is a slight lightening in the dark that has been compact for several years. In Budapest, Björn Seeliger, Robin Hanson, Isak Eliasson and Elias Persson will compete in the 4×100 meter freestyle.
It will be the first time since 2011 that Sweden has a male team in a long-distance World Cup.
– There is potential in that team. They have the physical conditions required to become really fast. This is a group that you can build on, and hopefully create a new successful team racing tradition, says Lars Frölander.
– Yes, something good is going on. Björn (Seeliger) I think will soon slaughter my Swedish records, says Stefan Nystrand whose Swedish records in 50 and 100 meters freestyle have been 13 years old.
Swimming is basically an individual sport, but the importance of good team competition is great for both the individual and the development of the sport. It is often in team competitions that young promising swimmers for the first time get the chance to compete against the best in a championship.
Something that in turn also develops them individually.
The possibility of a place in a team competition in a championship can also be the driving force that young swimmers need to continue the tough – and in the name of honesty quite monotonous – training even though they have not yet reached the world elite individually or may never do so.
In a team, they can still play a crucial role.
– Making a championship debut in a team also gives a certain security. Even if you are obviously nervous, it is a security that you are not alone, says Lars Frölander who took both his first Olympic medal and his first medal in a long-distance World Cup in team competition.
At the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, he was part of the Swedish silver team in the 4×200 meter freestyle, and two years later Sweden won with Frölander in the team World Cup gold in Rome in the 4×200 meter freestyle. Stefan Nystrand also picked up his first championship medals in team competition.
In order to turn In other words, the negative trend when it comes to the male part of Swedish swimming has an important role for team capers.
Something that Martina Aronsson, who took over as national team captain for the swimming national team at the beginning of the year, has taken note of.
The team race camp in Stockholm was a step towards creating a new tradition of strong men’s teams. Twelve swimmers applied to join the camp, eight were picked out but one was prevented at the last minute.
– I believe very much in meeting and exchanging experiences, says national team captain Martina Aronsson about the camp.
– At the same time, it was important to me that those who wanted to be with themselves could apply instead of us picking them out.
Two of the four World Cup swimmers Isak Eliasson and Elias Persson were at the camp, the other two remained in the USA where they study and train, and five swimmers who hope to get the chance at some point in the future.
In addition to being inspired by the legends Frölander and Nystrand, they trained together in Eriksdalsbadet.
– To meet other swimmers from other clubs and train together like this gives a lot. We learn from each other, says 19-year-old Felix Jedbratt who was one of the youngest to be selected.
– And you can ask a lot of questions to those who have a little more experience.
Meanwhile as the seven swimmers receive tips and advice from the head coach at the National Elite Center at Eriksdalsbadet Antonio Lutula and coach Carl Jenner, Lars Frölander and Stefan Nystrand sit in the stands and follow what is happening in the pool.
When the Swedish superstar Sarah Sjöström, who has just finished her training session, sees her former national team mates, she bursts into a smile.
The trio talks for a while about the upcoming World Cup in Budapest, where Lars Frölander will be on site as SVT’s expert, but soon the conversation is about electricity prices and what benefits geothermal heat can have.
– Now it is noticeable that we have grown older, says Lars Frölander and smiles.
– I never thought I would be interested in such things, says the new homeowner Sarah Sjöström who with her 28 years is the oldest in today’s national team.
Sjöström’s progress in the pool has benefited several of the national team mates. She has been the one who has given Sweden the opportunity to participate and fight for team race medals.
In the December short track world championships, it paid off in full when Sweden swam home four out of four possible team race medals.
Now is the hope that Björn Seeliger will be the one to take the lead for the men’s competition team. The 22-year-old, who studies and trains in the USA, swam really fast in the yards pool during the spring.
– Björn is the world’s second fastest freestyle swimmer ever in yards. Only multiple Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel has swum faster. It is absolutely incredible that we have such a good Swedish swimmer, praises national team friend Isak Eliasson.
For Isak Eliasson, the national team captain Aronsson’s decision to send a freestyle team to Budapest means that Isak will make his debut there in a long-distance World Cup.
Also for the other three swimmers Björn Seeliger, Robin Hanson and Elias Persson, it is a debut in a long distance WC. However, Seeliger and Hanson participated in last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo.
When the four best prepare for the World Cup, 19-year-old Felix Jedbratt has to wait for his debut in a senior championship, but the World Cup quartet gives him something to dream about. For the team race start in Budapest, the beginning is something, not the end.
In two years, an Olympics will be decided in Paris and in six years, an Olympics in Los Angeles. If Sweden is to be there, it will be required that more swimmers take a step forward to increase competition, and raise the level further.
– It feels good to be able to have something to strive for, says Felix Jedbratt.
He continues with a big smile:
– But I think I have to start by hoping to be selected for a European Championship.
Read more:
The super sisters Hansson are reunited – in England