REPORTAGE

Skellefteå - world champion in sporty inventions

Sticks, clubs, discs, grips, spears and gates.

All over the world, people throw, dribble, hike and climb with sports equipment from Skellefteå. This is how Skellefteå became world champion in sports innovation.

Many people know that Skellefteå has a rich history of inventions. Västerbotten cheese, the Göran and Birger Lundberg brothers' back loader and Alimak's construction elevator are some examples that have taken the world by storm. But there is one area where Skellefteå's ingenuity has excelled a little extra: the world of sports.

At major sporting events, along hiking trails, on climbing walls and on disc golf courses all over the world, equipment invented and manufactured in Skellefteå is used. This applies both in the past and today.

One person who has probably contributed more sporting patents than any other Swede is Skellefteå resident Kjell Lindskog, now 82 years old.

- "I have always been interested in finding solutions. You see things that you could perhaps do in a better way. That's how I work," says Kjell.

Built a racing car

In his 20s, he and some friends interested in racing started building racing cars. The hobby soon became an unlikely success story, with the cars competing and winning in major racing competitions around the world.

- At first they laughed at us. But when we outran everyone else, they stopped laughing. Among other things, we won two European Championships! In 1970, our team participated in 19 races in Europe. And we won 16 of them," says Kjell - not without a certain pride in his voice.

Many of Kjell Lindskog's inventions are based on so-called composite materials, which Kjell discovered in the early 1970s. In 1976 he received his first real patent - tennis rackets made of composite materials. The invention was later sold to Tretorn. In total, Kjell has amassed over 300 patents - from the famous safety bag to new solutions for de-icing wind turbines. But the patent list includes countless sports inventions. How about one of the first composite ice hockey sticks, windsurfing masts and slalom poles.

- I was in Tärnaby at the time and my children had just started slalom skiing. You could see that the poles were flying everywhere. Then I took out the foldable slalom pole. Later, I did 8 out of 10 World Cup races with my pole for a while

"I can't let it go"
And the inventive strokes are still there today.

- Absolutely! Being an inventor is a punishment, I usually say. You see something and you can't quite let it go. There are just new things all the time," he says.

The roots of the next successful innovation from Skellefteå can be found in Bergsbyn, 15 minutes by car from Kjell Lindskog's apartment in central Skellefteå. "Riiitsch", it sounds when the yellow disc from Latitude64 hits the basket on the first hole at Bergsbyn's disc golf course. Disc golf has been played here since the 1980s, and on a typical day, countless discs fly along the two 18-hole courses. It's no coincidence that it was here, in the disc golf mecca of Bergsbyn, that the company Latitude64 was born.

It all started in the basement of an apartment building in Bergsbyn in 2005. Friends David Berglund, Tomas Ekström, Johan Åström and Svante Eriksson had a great interest in disc golf and started designing their own discs.

- Only American companies were producing discs at that time. And we became less and less satisfied over time, both with the products and the customer service. So we felt: why couldn't we do this ourselves? A seed was planted that we could make a better product," says David.

No sooner said than done. The friends put together a simple business plan and started testing the waters.

- We had pretty good contacts in the industry. We started developing products, and what we managed to develop, we managed to sell. Then we had the opportunity to continue," says David.

A success story

Over time, the business grew into a success story. And the discs were appreciated by disc golfers around the world. Today, Latitude 54 has around 150 employees in Skellefteå, Stockholm, Finland, the USA and Canada.

- "What we did differently from our competitors was that we quality assured our production. This gave us greater credibility in our products. Quality was a very important part right from the start," says David.

Some other products and innovators that are worth highlighting in this context are the Kraftstaven, the Nordic Sports throwing spear and the climbing holds from Fugu Sports.

The Kraftstaven was developed by sports teacher and inventor Bo Lerner from Skellefteå. The idea from the start was to increase the user's performance. The pole has a curved handle that allows the skier to work closer to the body and use larger muscle groups. In 2006, the pole was approved by FIS, the International Ski Federation. Since then, Kraftstaven has launched several other poles for hiking, trekking and running.

Another success story, Nordic Sport, started in Arvidsjaur. Over the years, they have become one of the world's largest players when it comes to athletics equipment. Production is now based in Skellefteå. And when the world's best javelin throwers compete in the Olympics, World Championships and European Championships, there is a high probability that the spears are made in Skellefteå.

The Fugu Sports climbing holds started as an idea from friends and climbing enthusiasts Kenneth Marklund and Håkan Eklund in Skellefteå. Their first product, a training tool to strengthen their hands, resembled a blowfish. That's how the company got the name Fugu, which means blowfish in Japanese. Since 2003, the company has been producing climbing holds and climbing walls. Over the years, they have specialized in climbing products for home use. Fugu Sports also has a product line for playground manufacturers.

The confidence, drive and spirit of "why couldn't we do this even better" seems to be common to many of Skellefteå's innovators. So why is there so much sporting innovation coming from Skellefteå municipality? 82-year-old Kjell Lindskog has the last word:

- "There have always been talented inventors in this area. It's like in the spinal cord here, I think it's in the genes.

Text: Olov Antonsson

Photo: Tilda Olofsgård