BAUHAUS-galan, 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 World Athletics has high standards 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 one hand, Swedish athletes get the chance to meet the world elite and achieve good results that can give direct qualification for the World Championships, or high ranking points. The Diamond League gives the highest ranking points after the World Championships and the Olympics.

Jan Kowalski, who is the competition director for the BAUHAUS gala, feels that he has a great responsibility:
- Swedish athletics is well-wished for. But we have an economic reality to take into account, he says.
- When it comes to choosing events at BAUHAUS-galan, a number of events are jointly decided by the Diamond League organizers. Then each gala can add extra events where national interest is taken into account.
- This year, BAUHAUS-galan has discus for women and 3,000 m steeplechase for men as extra events.
- Four Swedes were ranked among the 50 fastest in the world last year in the 3,000 m hurdles, Jan Kowalski points out.
 

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 Cup qualification limit of 8.15 via a race 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 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 galas where many good runners compete. Here you can be fifth or sixth in a good time if you can keep up.
 

23-year-old Emil Blomberg from Hässelby is looking forward competing at BAUHAUS-galan:
– I have participated before. It is 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 who competed in the 2021 Olympics.
– It is not so 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 at 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 Championship qualification limit of 8.15. In the 3,000 m steeplechase, however, it is not certain that it will be enough to meet the qualification limit set by the international athletics federation World Athletics.

The 3,000 m steeplechase looks to be the only event where there is a possibility that more than three Swedes will pass the qualifying mark. 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 is stimulating to have competition on home soil, 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. Money is scarce in Swedish running. I am lucky to have my club Hässelby to support 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 stay 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 group 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 place in a Diamond League competition.
The winner in an event receives 10,000 US dollars (just over 100,000 SEK). The twelfth man 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