“I’m extremely proud of this Swedish squad. It’s a good mix of experience where we’ve managed to keep everyone active from 2022, and then we’ll have the privilege of adding four debutants,” says squad manager Niclas Grön in a press release.
The 25-year-old sit skier Elijah Primak, who won two FIS competitions after the turn of the year, will make his Paralympic debut in Italy.
– Elijah’s need to constantly evolve is what brought him here. “It’s very difficult to get through the bottleneck to get to the Paralympics, and Elijah really deserves this place,” says Grön.
Primak was able to qualify just before it was too late.
– It was completely crazy when I got the news. I sat in the shower and flew out, and when I found out I was a little shocked. It was absolutely incredible. “I haven’t really understood it yet,” he tells Sportbladet.
Sweden is represented in three sports: wheelchair curling (5 active participants), alpine skiing (4 active participants) and cross-country skiing/biathlon (4 active participants).
– This is really good news and the result of long-term investments that are starting to pay off. In pure percentage terms, we have seen an increase of around 40 percent over the last four years. There is trust in the future in this squad, says Grön.
Sweden didn’t have it more active in individual sports at the Paralympics since Nagano 1998.
Sweden won seven medals at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics. Ebba Årsjö and Zebastian Modin took three each and the Petersson-Dahl team took silver in wheelchair curling.
The Paralympics will be decided from March 6th to 15th.
Facts.Sweden’s squad for the Paralympics
Ebba Årsjö, alpine, Aaron Lindström, alpine, Arvid Skoglund, alpine, Elijah Primak, alpine, Arnt-Christian Furuberg, cross-country skiing, Zebastian Modin, cross-country skiing/biathlon, Ellen Westerlund, cross-country skiing, Alice Morelius, cross-country skiing, Viljo Petersson Dahl, wheelchair curling, Kristina Ulander, wheelchair curling, Ronny Persson, wheelchair curling, Sabina Johansson, wheelchair curling, Marcus Holm, wheelchair curling.
