Irene Michelle Ekelund (; born 8 March 1997) is a Swedish

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

sprint athlete who competes internationally for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. On 14 July 2013 Ekelund won the gold medal at the World Youth Championships in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

when she finished first in the 200 metres final. It was also the first gold medal for Sweden in a sprint event in a global championship ever.

Biography

Ekelund was born in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

to a Swedish father and an

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

n mother during her father's

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

-service in Pakistan. The family later moved back to Sweden and settled in

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitan ...

where she today lives with her mother and five siblings. She currently studies at the stylist program at her

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

( gymnasium) in her hometown, and competes for a club in the southern Swedish city of Malmö, Malmö Allmänna Idrottsförening (MAI). Ekelund has several times stated that she is not very interested in athletics, and that she does not have any real idols in the sport. Ekelund currently holds the Swedish indoor record in 200 metres. At the Swedish National Indoor Championships in

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

2013, Ekelund won gold medals in the distances 60 metres and 200 metres. Her international debut took place in the indoor-international between Sweden, Finland and Norway in

Växjö Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...

at January 20, 2013. Later in 2013 she also made her international championship-debut when she competed in the World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine. She won the gold medal in 200 metres and finished fifth in the 100 metres final. She became the first Swedish athlete to win an international championship in a sprint event. Thanks to her performance, she was awarded "Newcomer of the Year" at the Swedish Sports Award.

Achievements

Personal bests

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekelund, Irene Swedish female sprinters 1997 births Living people Swedish expatriates in Pakistan Swedish people of Angolan descent Swedish Athletics Championships winners Malmö AI athletes Spårvägens FK athletes 21st-century Swedish sportswomen