PHOTO: Bildbyrån + Instagram
Swedish athletics is sad.
The runner Emilia Brangefält has died, aged 21.
– I have a hard time finding words, says Sweden’s national team captain Kajsa Bergqvist in a statement.
A year ago took Emilia Brangefält bronze in trail running during the World Championships in Thailand. At the time, the young talent was only 20 years old, and it was her very first international competition.
Emilia’s feat
Emilia herself was surprised after her feat.
– It exceeded all my expectations, Brangefält told SVT after the WC bronze.
Last year she also won SM gold in Genarp, and this summer she came fifth in the WC in Innsbruck. Emilia Brangefält was one of Sweden’s best runners and in recent years rose to the top of the world.
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Now she has died, only 21 years old.
– It is so deeply tragic. I have a hard time finding words, says the Swedish national team captain Kajsa Bergqvist on the website of Swedish Athletics.
– I didn’t know Emilia personally, but I understood that she was a very nice person, a forward-thinking, lovely, talented girl with her whole life ahead of her. On behalf of Swedish Athletics, I send my warmest thoughts to Emilia’s closest bereaved, continues Bergqvist.
Mourned by many
Swedish Athletics writes that Emilia felt very bad both physically and mentally, and despite the support of those closest to her, she died on November 13th.
“Today we think above all of the person Emilia and our thoughts also go to her loved ones,” the association writes in a press release.
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Emilia’s club Västerås FK writes in a statement that they are an “association in mourning” and that they “send all love and strength to Emilia’s family”. The trail national team’s national team leader Carl Avedal also mourns the 21-year-old, and has spoken to several runners who were close to her.
– This has come as a shock message for Löparsverige and for me personally. The grief and loss are shared by so many. My friends in the trail national team and I remember her as the happy, very popular girl she was, full of energy. Her personality lifted the team. It feels completely surreal that she is actually gone, says Avedal to Swedish Athletics.
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