Lindberg Wins Maiden Elite Singles Title; Seehofer Triple Crown in Sweden

Christine Seehofer and Rene Lindberg have been crowned the IWT Swedish Open champions after winning the Women’s and Men’s singles titles respectively.

Lindberg battled back against fellow Swede Mikael Rehn to lift a first career elite singles title. The maiden title was made even sweeter by the fact that he won it in his home country.

In the Women’s singles, Christine Seehofer continues to close in on 100 consecutive singles victories after winning in Sweden. Seehofer is now up to 87 victories after her three wins in Enskede Rackethall on a weekend where she also completed another Triple Crown.

Men’s A: Lindberg Wins Maiden Elite Singles Title

For Rene Lindberg, October 13^th 2019 is not a date he will forget in a hurry. That is the day he became a Racketlon elite singles champion for the first time.

Before the final Lindberg was certainly had a couple of advantages over his opponents Mikael Rehn. For starters, Lindberg was more well-rested after gaining a walkover in the semi-finals. Secondly, he also boasted a 1-0 head-to-head winning record over his opponent. However, he also knew he would probably have to come back from a heavy table tennis loss.

That is exactly how the match began. As has been the theme throughout the weekend, Rehn got off to a ferocious start. He kept Lindberg to just two in table tennis gifting himself a +19 lead.

Lindberg would have expected to make some headway into that lead in the badminton. Rehm held firm though, going toe-to-toe with Lindberg throughout the badminton. In the end, Lindberg snuck the badminton but only 21-19, taking just two points off Rehn’s lead.

The squash was where the damage was done. Lindberg controlled the squash from the outset, restricting any opportunities for Rehn to pick up points. Lindberg took the squash set 21-4 to leave the match dead-level heading into tennis.

Tennis is Lindberg’s sport and he knew he had a great chance of lifting the title. In the end, the tennis set was routine, Lindberg strolling to a 21-8 victory to get his hands on the trophy.

That ground-breaking win will propel Lindberg inside the top-20 for the first time in the November rankings. It should also provide a confidence boost for the Swede the World Championships just around the corner.

Third place was won by Ray Jordan after his opponent Sebastian Hedlund was forced to withdraw.

Rene Lindberg stood atop the podium for the first time at elite level (Image: Anna-Klara Ahlmer)

Women’s A: Triple Crown for Seehofer in Sweden

The unstoppable force that is Christine Seehofer collected her sixth elite singles title of the season in Sweden. The singles victory also gained her yet another Triple Crown after she won the Mixed Doubles with Dan Busby and Women’s Doubles with Anna-Klara Ahlmer on Friday.

For Seehofer the deciding match in the box league came down to a shootout against Anna-Klara Ahlmer. With an 11-0 head-to-head record, all momentum was with Ahlmer coming into the contest and, as expected, she delivered a win.

The table tennis is always Ahlmer’s best chance in the first three sports to claim a win. However, she was unable to overpower Seehofer, with the World No.1 winning 21-15. From there, the Austrian further tightened her grip on the match.

She raced through the badminton 21-6 to open up a +21 lead. Knowing that a squash win would be enough to deliver the title, Seehofer controlled the match. The World No.1 won the squash 21-12 to seal the title and complete the Triple Crown.

That leaves Christine Seehofer just 13 wins away from reaching 100 consecutive singles victory, a remarkable and historic feat if she can achieve it.

While Ahlmer finished second on the podium she was joined by fellow Swede Emmie Danielsson. Danielsson was superb in her bronze medal match against Kirsten Kaptein, winning the match +25 before tennis after winning all three sports.

Friday’s tournament report is available here with Saturday’s report available here.