The competition at the
IBF World Championships 2025
begins tomorrow in Hong Kong, where 300 athletes from 31 countries will step
onto one of the most demanding stages in bowling.
Players will
battle it out in nearly two weeks of competition at the new 40-lane Top Bowl
inside Kai Tak Sports Park for medals in singles, doubles, trios, teams and
all-event.
This year also marks Sweden’s return to the World Championships
after opting out in 2023, and expectations are naturally high.
With 83 total medals - 30
gold, 29 silver, and 24 bronze - Sweden stands as the second-most awarded
nation in World Championships history, and every new roster carries the weight
of that legacy.
For nearly three decades, few names have been more closely connected to Swedish national team than Martin Larsen. Since first wearing the national blue/yellow colors in 1997, he has become one of Europe’s most successful bowlers of all time.
But for the first time since the late 1990s, Sweden’s men’s roster will compete at a World Championships without Martin Larsen on the lanes.
BowlingLife’s Erikas Jansonas sat down with him to reflect on nearly 30 years with the national team, his favourite moments, thoughts on Sweden’s 2025 roster, and how he sees the next generation stepping onto the world stage in Hong Kong for the firs time.
A Career Defined by Precision, Learning, and Helping Others
Martin Larsen made his debut on the national team in 1997, when he earned a place on the Swedish youth national squad. Over the next few years, he represented Sweden in U21 competition and gradually worked his way up to the men’s national team roster.
Martin’s game was never about enormous revolutions or power. Other qualities shaped him into one of the most notable bowlers in Europe - discipline, knowledge, and the ability to raise the level of the team around him.
“I’ve never had that extra when it comes to rotation or power, one of my idols, Tomas Leandersson, early got me to understand that there’s other things that can make up for that. Accuracy, spare shooting and knowledge," Martin Larsen said. "So I’ve always tried to learn as much as I can about the game and I think that helped me a lot. My low level got higher than many of my opponents and it also helped me helping my teammates. My strength in trying to help my teammates has also sometimes been my weakness because it happens that my focus on my own game got hurt by it. Power I guess is another weakness, especially in todays game.”
The Toughest Conversation That Never Happened
The Storm Lucky Larsen Masters was the final evaluation point before Sweden’s World Championships roster was decided.
For Martin, however, SLLM has always been far more than just a tournament. As
one of the event’s organizers, he carries a long list of responsibilities.
Naturally, his own performance on the lanes sometimes has to take a back seat.
He finished 61st out of 376 players - a respectable result, but
not enough to secure a spot on the World Championships roster, as national
team coach Robert Andersson chose to move forward with other experienced
players.
Given Martin’s long history with Robert - years of traveling together, countless training sessions, and shared medals in both youth and men’s championships - informing him of that decision could have been a difficult conversation. Yet, conversation never happened.
“Well I guess this was hard enough for Robert that it ended up not being any
conversation about it. My focus around the SLLM is on a lot other things then
just my own bowling, so the timing for that tournament to be the last one
before Robert picked the team maybe wasn’t the best for me. We’ve talked about
a lot of things over the years, travel the world, practicing, winning and
losing together. But we haven’t had a conversation about this," Martin
shared.
When reflecting on why things turned out this way, Martin highlighted the
growing influence of urethane in today’s game.
"I know that one big
reason is the soft urethane balls thats been dominating some championships.
That some players (like me) can’t use them has made picking the team totally
different than it used to be. I always worked on game to be versatile,
especially before championships to not let my team down. But with today's game
there’s a chance that it want help if the playing environment gets to where
only those balls will be in use.”
Sweden’s Roster: Power, Potential, and a Challenging Pattern
Sweden’s lineup for Hong Kong includes Pontus Andersson, James Blomgren, Robin Ilhammar, Markus Jansson, Joachim Karlsson, and Jesper Svensson - a mix of experience, power, and high-rev young talent. In Martin’s view, it is once again a team built for medals.
“Sweden has been fortunate to have a great team for a long long time, this
year is nothing special, it’s a great team again. We do have a team that has
some more specialties in their game, there’s a great chance that we will see
the blue/yellow flag on top if those specialties comes into play. There’s a
lot of power in this team, if the lanes allows some room I think it will be
hard to outstrike Sweden," Larsen said.
When talking about possible weaknesses, Larsen said he just hopes the 46-foot pattern doesn’t turn into a low-scoring grind. He also mentioned that having only two coaches to cover both the men’s and women’s teams could make things a bit tougher than usual.
"I would have love to see this see this team on a pattern where the gutter is in play. Looking at weakness would be the other way, low scoring wouldn’t be ideal. Also our budget has been lower than normal with a lot of championships this year, that made the Swedish federation only send to 2 coaches/team managers to cover for both men and women, not ideal in my mind.”
A New Generation, and Ilhammar’s Big Step Forward
Hong Kong will also mark a generational moment for the Swedish men's national team. Robin Ilhammar joins the roster, stepping into his first adult World Championships after a strong run in IBF Youth World Cup in Sweden.
Even though World Championships is totally different challenge, Martin believes the transition will be smooth.
“After Jesper and James, I think Robin was the easiest pick for Robert. Robin already has a lot of experience from national team play. Yes, World Championships is different, but I don’t think that will disturb him. He’s a very talented bowler and he will be bowling for team Sweden for a long time. There will be times where things don’t run as smooth as it has been so far. Robin's next challenge is to deal with that when it happens, it does for all of us, but let’s hope it waits a little longer. I don’t think the first World Championships is the hardest, expectations gets bigger later, this one is just for Robin to enjoy and ride the wave he is on at the moment.”
Golf, Rooftop Bars, and Friends for Life
Championships are mostly remembered for medals - but also for everything that happens around them. When asked about his favorite memories from the travels with the Swedish National Team, Martin expanded beyond just bowling alleys.
“This one is the hardest question to answer, at least to make it short. Banquets in Kula Lumpur, golf in Las Vegas, roof top bars in Hong Kong, dinners and zoo visits in Australia… I could go on forever, very thankful for all the friends I found around the world and all memories I’ve collected over the years! I hope I’ll get new good memories behind the online scoring and stream this year. #Swebowl4gold2025”.
