
Dressage riders Evelina Söderstrom and Maria von Essen have become the recipients of the 2025 Swedish Sport Federation's Elite Sport Scholarship.
Tidningen Ridsport reported that 429 Swedish athletes from all sports applied and 60 received the "scholarship" or grant. Two of them are dressage riders.
The scholarship recipients receive 60,000 SEK (5,400 euro) each as well as expert support in sports psychology, sports medicine and career guidance.
The dressage riders who got the grant are Swedish Grand Prix team rider Maria von Essen (45), who competed at the 2025 European Championships with Invoice (by Jazz x Ferro) and Under 25 rider Evelina Söderström (24) who showed Cilantro (by Johnson x Hertug) at the 2024 European Under 25 Championships. This year the pair showed in three CDI's (Amsterdam, Gothenburg and Borge). She has been studying physiotherapy at Uppsala university.
Soderstrom stated, "It feels very honored to be awarded this scholarship for the second year in a row to elite athletes combining their athletic endeavor with college education. I have just started the second year of my studies at Uppsala University at a 100 percent rate."
Complete list of scholarship recipients here.
Photo © Digishots
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