I am trying to find the correct words for this experience, but it’s hard. Mikael and I have experienced the most important event in Swedish sports history. And it was my sport. How incredible is that? I still can’t believe we were there to be completely honest.
When tickets went on pre-sale in March 2025, I bought tickets the same day for Round of 16 all the way through to the finals. Surely Sweden would get to play at least a few of those games. Oh boy were we in for a surprise.
I never thought I would say this coming from such a dark and cold place as Sweden this time of year, but end of November finally arrived. Our first real trip in Australia since moving here. Obviously we did a short weekend in Bundaberg last September and we’ve been camping down in Byron Bay and up in Sunshine Coast, but this was the first real trip, where we had to fly domestic. Even within the same country, it took us 2h 40 min to fly from Gold Coast to Adelaide. This country is too big!
Having played this sport for 19 years now, I am ashamed to say that I have never witnessed any elite competitions in real life. I have watched a lot of games in recent years online however, especially since Sweden came onto the stage. But never in person. I have to admit that I was starstruck when I started seeing players walking around the area around The Drive. And if there is one player that I’ve really looked up to through the years, it’s April Ross. And I saw her. On our very first day there (and pretty much every day after as well, haha). My starstruckness calmed down after a couple of days, but it was still super cool seeing her in the coffee shop where we had breakfast a couple days later.
I know that my post so far is contradictory. I only had tickets for Round of 16 and forward. BUT, landing at 2pm, when there were still games going in Round of 32, we just had to get extra tickets for Wednesday. Meaning that we got the chance to watch my favorites (after Sweden of course) Anders Mol and Christian Sørum from Norway beat Canada. It was a little bit of a wobbly game, but they won, meaning that we got to see them for another game in the tournament.
Much later in the evening, we entered centre court to watch the newcomers, The Icemen. I don’t think I ever thought that Sweden would have two teams in the World Championships this year when I booked the tickets, but having followed these very young (19 and 20) boys rise to the very top during this season, hopes were getting higher and higher by the month. Not that Åhman and Hellvig are much older (23 and 24) but they have been around for a few years now and are definitely getting more stable in their re-invention of the game. My thoughts this season have been that yes, Åhman/Hellvig invented the Swedish Jumpsets, but these young guns are perfecting it. Jacob Hölting Nilsson is incredible with the feints of going for option and then setting. I would like to argue that he is one of the best setters, and hardest hitters in the world. At the age of 20!
Throughout pool play, I’ve been watching every game for both Swedish teams, as well as Norway’s first team (they had two other teams, both consisting of 3 Mol brothers and one Berntsen cousin, isn’t that hilarious?), Qatar (my other favorite team to watch, they are just so athletic and powerful), and Cuba. I just recently started watching their games as they have been a bit of unknowns. It rarely happens that the defender is the tallest on the team, but for Cuba’s Alayo and Diaz, it does.
And while we’ve been watching the Swedish games, we have seen a very visible group of Swedish supporters, flags, hats, shirts, everything. We found them on Wednesday, and have sat with them whenever possible, joining their very TV-friendly faces.
Bemm 