Time on Swedish duo's side after Tokyo disappointment

Time has flown faster than their skiff and Netzler can barely keep track of the fact that it’s just over two years since they started campaigning together. 

Since then, their results at three successive 49erFX World Championships read: 2022 silver, 2023 gold, 2024 silver. 

The Swedes have come a long way since the disappointment of not even qualifying the nation for the Tokyo 2020 Games. 

Bobeck and Netzler, respectively 26 and 28 years old, were campaigning in separate boats with other teammates who have since retired from Olympic competition.  

“Looking back at the last campaign I thought I was ready to win regattas,” says Bobeck.  

“But maybe I wasn’t really mature enough for it. We were three FX teams and we had some really good ups – and a lot of downs as well. 

“We couldn’t really keep the consistency and I think the big change going into this campaign with Rebecca now is I think I’m more up for it and a bit more settled, which helps a lot.” 

The pair very nearly didn’t go forward with the Paris 2024 campaign. Following the disappointment of missing out on Tokyo, they were thinking about other priorities in life, as Netzler recalls. 

“We did one test sail in Sweden for a few days [in late 2021] and then we said, ‘okay it feels really good we should just continue.’ 

“But Vilma was studying and I had just signed up to sail across the Atlantic so we thought, ‘Vilma finishes school, I do my things and we meet again in January.’” 

One of the things that convinced them to pitch themselves back into the hurly-burly of Olympic campaigning was the instant chemistry they experienced when they stepped on board the FX together. 

“I think it was only a matter of minutes, or even seconds, before we felt it was working really well between us,” grins Bobeck. 

“It was actually a pretty cool feeling, because we had trained together when we were campaigning towards Tokyo in separate boats. We trained a lot against each other but we never actually sailed the boat together, which is quite funny now, looking back at it. We were on the tipping point of whether or not to do another campaign, but it was quite clear from the very first session that we were actually going to do it.” 

So they started working together in 2022 and success came quickly, taking the Swedes by surprise as well as the rest of the 49erFX circuit. 

Netzler explains: “We felt straight away that we connected really well in the boat and that we were thinking quite alike how we wanted things to go, and how it should feel. I wasn’t expecting that the improvements would come so quick but when we got bronze at the Europeans that summer, it was an insane feeling. 

“And then to go to the Worlds and still be fighting for the gold in the Medal Race and to finish with the silver. When we debriefed afterwards, all the goals we had set for the last year before Paris, we had already managed in the first year.” 

However, the 2023 season didn’t start so well as an injury during training put Netzler out of the boat for three months. Fortunately their coach, Victor Bergström (brother of Fredrik Bergström who won a 470 silver medal in Tokyo) is a good 49er skiff sailor in his own right. “So Victor stepped into the boat and sailed with Vilma while I was trying to recover as quickly as possible,” explains Netzler.  

Eventually Netzler was well enough to get back in the boat and the Swedes managed a silver medal at the Olympic Test Regatta in Marseille. 

The silver came despite Bobeck injuring herself and unable to complete the Medal Race. After Marseille it was time for Bergström to get back in the boat, this time on the tiller with Netzler at the front. 

“We worked out that Victor had spent more time sailing the FX last year than either of us had managed,” laughs Bobeck. “We are a team of three.” 

Somehow the Swedes again bounced back from injury to regroup for the Sailing World Championships in The Hague. The medium to strong conditions and lumpy North Sea suited the tall Swedes perfectly as they swept to victory, taking the world title with a race to spare. 

While Bobeck and Netzler were not quite at their best for the 2024 Worlds in Lanzarote in March, finishing with another silver proves the Swedes are right in the medal zone for the Games.  

The team that has alternated gold and silver world medals with them over the past three years is the Dutch duo of Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz. 

Duetz holds the advantage of having experienced the Games previously, taking a bronze at Tokyo 2020 with former teammate Annemiek Bekkering. And of course there are plenty of others to consider for serious medal potential, not least the Brazilians, Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, looking to become the first ever women to win a third consecutive Olympic title after victories at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.  

The Swedes know that all they can do is to focus on their own game. They are determined to enjoy the pressure of their first Games. “We’re just really excited to go,” says Bobeck, “and so grateful for the for the support and that we’re able to do it. It’s not really sunk in yet, that we’re actually going. It’s a dream we’ve been pursuing for so many years, and now it’s becoming real.”