She made her championship debut last summer – and directly contributed to the Swedish team's gold medal.
Wilma Hellström, 31, got a taste of the good life. But it's one thing to jump in the European Championship, another to get a spot in the Olympic team.
Whatever happens, happens, she says.
On her horse Cicci, she jumped faultlessly in the decisive round of the team jumping at the European Championship almost a year ago.
It wasn't just enough for the team's gold medal – with Henrik von Eckermann, Jens Fredricson, and Rolf-Göran Bengtsson as the other riders – but also for individual final jumping.
Ten months later, Wilma Hellström is eagerly waiting to find out what the national team captain Henrik Ankarcrona wants in Versailles in about five weeks. On Saturday, he will announce which four riders he takes with him.
Planned for the Olympics
Hellström got an early assignment from Ankarcrona to plan for the Olympics, but no guarantees that she gets to go.
We made a plan. Now it didn't quite turn out as we thought due to the Nations Cup in St. Gallen being cancelled. Take it easy, Cicci feels super fine. We know each other so well, and she has such incredible experience. I feel that this year after last year, with the World Cup final and the European Championship, everything we have in our baggage.
The competition for Olympic spots is razor-sharp. Behind the obvious world number one von Eckermann are Bengtsson, Peder Fredricson, Malin Baryard Johnsson, and Petronella Andersson, and herself.
Two will be left out, one will be the reserve.
If Bengtsson, reserve in the gold team at the 2021 Olympics and 2022 World Championship, wants to take that role again is unclear. And how eager are the veterans Baryard Johnsson and Fredricson? Ankarcrona has a delicate task.
Reserve? Gladly!
The national team captain will, as usual, not publicly announce who will be the team's reserve.
When the time is ripe, I'll tell you who will be, so to say, fourth in the team competition in Paris, but exactly when it will be, I can't say, he tells DN.
But Wilma Hellström gives a clear answer. She wants to go, regardless of what awaits.
I'm very positive about most things (laughs) and Henrik knows that too. It's a bit of my strength, I'd say. I don't see anything negative about going as a reserve in the situation I'm in now.
If you don't get to go at all, how do you take it?
You just have to take it. That's how it is. Not everyone can go. It's also part of the sport to be part of that. Somewhere you have to hold your plan, and what happens, happens. In the end, it's Henrik who picks what he thinks is the best team. So be it, says Hellström.
She means that whoever jumps in Versailles, Sweden should be in the mix for medals.
I hear many from other countries say that Sweden has an incredibly strong team since we have so many good riders (who can go to the Olympics).
Born: April 26, 1993.
Lives: Valkenswaard, the Netherlands.
Main horse: Cicci, mare, 13 years old.
Main championship merit: European Championship gold in team in Milan 2023. Finished 14th in the World Cup final last year and was individually 22nd in the European Championship.
World ranking: 205.
Current: Fighting for a spot in the Olympic team. Jumping in the Global Champions Tour at Stockholm Stadium over the weekend. Riding Cicci in Friday afternoon's 1.45-meter jumping
