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BAUHAUS-galan, which this year will be held on Sunday, June 15, is the country's most important athletics competition, partly because the three-hour broadcast on SVT helps build interest in Swedish athletics, and partly because the gala gives Swedish elite athletes the chance to compete in a high-class competition against qualified opposition, which increases the possibility of achieving a good result.
Stockholm

BAUHAUS-galan is the most important competition of the year

This year, the World Athletics Championships, which will be held in Tokyo in September, are the big goal for Sweden’s best athletes. The international athletics federation World Athletics has high requirements for qualifying for the World Championships. Either the athlete must achieve a world-class result or he or she must have enough ranking points.

This is where the importance of having a Diamond League competition in Sweden becomes obvious. On the one hand, Swedish athletes get the chance to meet the world elite and perform well, which can lead to direct qualification for the World Championships, or high ranking points. After the World Championships and the Olympics, the Diamond League gives the highest ranking points.

Jan Kowalski, who is the competition director for BAUHAUS-galan, feels that he has a great responsibility:

– People want Swedish athletics well. But we have an economic reality to take into account, he says.

– When it comes to choosing disciplines in BAUHAUS-galan, a number of disciplines are jointly determined by the Diamond League organizers. Then, each gala can add additional disciplines where national interest is taken into account.

– This year, BAUHAUS-galan has discus for women and 3,000 m steeplechase for men as additional events.

– Four Swedes are ranked among the 50 fastest in the world last year in 3,000 m steeplechase, points out Jan Kowalski.

Now the quartet Leo Magnusson from Sävedalen, Emil Blomberg from Hässelby, Simon Sundström from Djurgården and Vidar Johansson from Ullevi will have the chance to compete in a Diamond League gala. Of them, Leo Magnusson has already passed the World Championship qualification limit of 8.15 via a run of 8.13.08 in Zagreb last year.

– Maybe one of the hurdlers could get into a Diamond League gala abroad if there were an opening, says Daniel Wessfeldt, who is the manager of most of Sweden’s top track and field athletes, including superstar “Mondo” Duplantis.

– Since all elite athletes are chasing ranking points, many want to compete in the Diamond League, so the competition for places is fierce in all disciplines.

– For runners, it is extra important to run in the big races where many good runners compete. Here you can finish in the top five or six in a good time if you can keep up.

23-year-old Emil Blomberg from Hässelby is looking forward to competing in BAUHAUS-galan:

– I’ve been there before. It’s important that we have such a big competition on home soil in Stockholm with a lot of spectators in the stands, says Emil, who has been in the European Championship final three times and competed in the 2021 Olympics.

– It’s not that easy to get into a Diamond League competition abroad.

– For me, the BAUHAUS gala is an important competition that offers one of the absolute best chances this summer to run fast.

This year, the 3,000 m steeplechase in BAUHAUS-galan is planned to be a race at a moderate pace to suit the best Swedes.

At last year’s gala, Emil set his personal best of 8:16.94. Now he is aiming to improve that time by two seconds to meet the World Championships qualifying limit of 8:15. In the 3,000 m steeplechase, however, it is not certain that it will be enough to meet the qualifying limit set by the international athletics federation World Athletics.

The 3,000m steeplechase looks to be the only event where there is a possibility that more than three Swedes will qualify. Since only three athletes per nation are allowed to start in an event at the World Championships, it is important to be one of the three best Swedes.

“It’s stimulating to have competition at home,” says Emil.

– We have each other to thank for our successes.

Despite his successes, Emil is forced to work part-time alongside running:

– I absolutely cannot go around in athletics. There is a shortage of money in Swedish running. I am lucky to have my club Hässelby supporting me.

Daniel Wessfeldt agrees that it is financially tough to make an elite effort in athletics:

– 75 percent of the national team players who participate in, for example, Finnkampen are dependent on support from their parents. They live at home for a long time, he says.

– There are some who can make a living from sports, but they don’t have anything left over to save as starting capital for the day their athletics career ends.

– Only a small clique can make money from their athletics.

Getting the chance to compete in the Diamond League means an opportunity to earn prize money, but it is difficult to get a spot in a Diamond League competition.

The winner of an event receives 10,000 US dollars (just over 100,000 SEK). The twelfth place finisher in a running event receives 1,000 US dollars (around 10,000 SEK), which is a lot for most Swedish national team runners, but relatively modest sums compared to the prize money that the Swedish national team skiers or biathlon athletes compete for in their World Cups every weekend during the winter.

Text: Anders Olsson