Ebba's strength has made her the Swedish arm wrestling champion

Ebba Lindstedt has always wanted to be strong, and the fact that she chose the sport of arm wrestling was actually a coincidence. But it turned out that she had come to the right place. With several Swedish championship medals under her belt, including two gold, she is now aiming for the World Championships with the slightly dizzying goal of becoming the best in the world.

28-year-old Ebba Lindstedt is studying the sports science program at the University of Gävle and is studying through the concept Elite Sports Friendly University.

She had originally planned to focus on powerlifting, for example deadlifting, but it turned out that she had a taste for a different direction in power sports.

– I got to know some people who were into arm wrestling and trained at the same gym as an arm wrestling club. Another girl had just started and they thought it would be great if more girls joined the club. My first thought was: is it even a sport? she says, laughing.

"Took home the gold"

It turned out to be a sport that was completely natural for Ebba. After five months of training, her coach thought she should compete in the Swedish Championships. But she felt it was a little too early to start competing.

– At first I was just going to come along and watch. But when I got up and competed, I happened to go to the final in the right arm and took home the gold. I had never competed before so it was really cool. It felt completely unreal, that I stepped up as a rookie and grabbed a Swedish Championship gold, she says.

The day before, she had also competed with her left arm and won a bronze medal, so she came home from her first World Championships with two medals. Since then, she has continued to compete and achieve success, and this year she competed in the Swedish Championships again.

– I won gold in my right arm again and silver in my left arm. So I did even better now and I got to prove that it wasn't just a coincidence and beginner's luck the first time. I have some kind of talent too.

What is the attraction of the sport?

– It's mainly the people in the sport because it's a really warm community where everyone welcomes everyone new, helps each other and cheers each other on. Then I've always liked being strong and arm wrestling is a common showdown since a long time.

Ebba explains that arm wrestling is basically half strength, half technique.

– I train table time, i.e. when you stand at a table and break your arm. Then I do arm wrestling-specific training at the gym and the rest of the body as usual. That's about five sessions a week.

After a year of studying the sports science program at the University of Gävle, she feels that the education is just right for her.

– It feels great and it gets more and more fun the more I learn. Already during the first year, I have been able to apply so much from the education in my own training to optimize it. We will be specially trained in the field of doping and if I can dream big, I would like to work for WADA, the World Anti-Doping Organization. It would be fun to travel and see different sports and meet other athletes.

Wants to be the best in the world

When I ask her what her goals are for her sport, the answer comes quickly:

– My goal is to become the best in the world in my weight class. This year I will compete in my first World Championships, in Bulgaria in September. I've done well enough at the Swedish Championships for me to dare to go for it. I'm ready for it now. Now it will be hard training during the summer to make sure that the form is the best it can be.

Text: Anna Sällberg