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When the world’s best athletes descend on Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium for Sunday’s BAUHAUS-galan, few competitors will be cheered more loudly than Swedish best friends Maja Åskag and Julia Henriksson.
The pair have shared a close bond ever since first rooming together as members of the Swedish national team in 2021, and both arrive at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting with ambitions that stretch beyond a strong performance in front of home fans.
With the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham looming in August, both believe a successful afternoon on home soil could provide the perfect springboard towards a first senior international medal.
For Åskag, the signs are already encouraging.
The 22-year-old arrives in Stockholm buoyed by a season’s best triple jump of 14.24m in Greece earlier this week, a mark that not only underlined her improving form but also secured the qualifying standard for Birmingham.
“So I competed last weekend, and I felt heavy and slow,” she said. “But then I was in Greece two days ago, I competed in the triple jump and did 14.24m, so that was a season best and a European standard for Birmingham. So, yes, I’m in good shape.”
Åskag burst onto the international scene in spectacular fashion in 2021, claiming the long jump and triple jump double at both the World and European U20 Championships.
The challenging transition to the main stage has not been instant, but she feels she is now beginning to convert that prodigious junior promise into senior success.
“It’s five years now, and last year I was in two world finals, so I think that was a big step for me, just getting out on a world stage, performing and getting to the finals,” she said.
“I feel like the next step is to take a medal. That’s my goal. I want to take a medal at the European Championships. I don’t want to sit here and lie. That’s the goal. Anything can happen, but that’s what I’m aiming for.”
Sunday’s long jump competition will provide a significant test of her progress. The Swede will line up against a world-class field featuring Germany’s Olympic and world champion Malaika Mihambo and Italy’s twice Diamond League Final winner Larissa Iapichino.
Yet where a younger Åskag may once have been intimidated by the occasion, experience has brought confidence.
“Four years ago, when I did my first BAUHAUS-Galan, I was so nervous,” she recalled. “I didn’t see anyone I knew from the junior championships. These were big names – the people I saw on TV when I started doing track.
“Four years ago I would just be looking at them and being shy, but now, after World Championships, European Championships and competitions like this, I feel so much more confident.”
Rather than being overwhelmed by the calibre of opposition, Åskag is determined to embrace the occasion.
“I just think it’s going to be fun. Sometimes I think we overthink it and take it too seriously. You should be focused, but we’re just jumping in sand – we should not overthink it.
“I love to do it. It’s fun, so I just try to stick to that feeling and that mindset. Then I can relax and do the things I know I’m good at.”
While Åskag will be aiming to soar in the long jump pit, Henriksson will be chasing speed on the track.
The Swedish champion, who finished sixth in the 200m at the European Championships in Rome last summer, opens her outdoor campaign in the women’s 100m against a field that includes reigning world 100m and 200m champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.
For Henriksson, there could hardly be a better place to begin.
“I’m so excited to start the season, and it’s the best time to do it here in BAUHAUS-Galan,” she said. “It’s the best crowd, the best atmosphere, so I’m ready.”
Her fondest memory of the meeting came two years ago when she finished second over 200m and broke 23 seconds for the first time despite battling a strong headwind.
“My favourite memory is two years ago when I came in second place in the 200m and did a sub-23 for the first time in minus two. After that we went to Europeans, so I had a really good feeling going over there.”
She hopes history can repeat itself this summer.
Having reached the European final in Rome, Henriksson is now targeting a place on the podium in Birmingham.
“It’s the biggest goal, of course,” she said. “Last time I came in sixth, and now I’m hoping for better and aiming for a medal.”
There is another target within touching distance too. Henriksson’s personal best of 11.19 places her just 0.03 seconds outside the Swedish record, a mark she carries into every race.
“My PB is 11.19 and the Swedish record is 11.16, so I’m pretty close,” she said. “I’m always aiming for that one in every race.”
As two of Sweden’s brightest athletics stars prepare to compete in front of a passionate home crowd, Sunday’s BAUHAUS-Galan offers more than just an early-season test. For Åskag and Henriksson, it represents an opportunity to build momentum, confidence and belief ahead of the biggest championship of the year.
If the encouragement of a packed Stockholm Olympic Stadium can help propel the best friends towards Birmingham in August, Sunday’s meeting could prove to be an important step on the road to European medal success.