Project Manager Appointed for Swedish Winter Championships Week 2026

Umeå has been selected to host the Swedish Winter Championships Week (SM-veckan vinter) in 2026. Now, it’s been announced that Henrik Vilhelmsson from Visit Umeå will serve as the local project manager for this prestigious event.

“In recent years, Umeå has been challenged and developed as an event city. With Rally Sweden and the Swedish Summer Championships Week, new structures and ways of collaborating have emerged, and we now want to take full advantage of this. With his experience and strong network within the municipality, business community, and sports movement both locally and nationally, Henrik has the best prerequisites to succeed with this,” says Peter Juneblad from Umeå Municipality Business.

Visit Umeå has been tasked with leading the work for the Swedish Championships Week on behalf of the municipal board. Gabriella Hed Vall, CEO of Visit Umeå, explains:

“We see this as completely natural. We have the role of boundary-crossers and collaborate equally with the municipality, business community, and associations on a daily basis. Henrik will largely collaborate with various functions within the municipality, but he will also have support from Visit Umeå’s regular operations, which I believe will be a strength.”

Work on the Swedish Championships Week has already begun at full speed. A new organizational structure needs to be formed, dates set, and sports determined. Henrik himself is humble about the assignment:

“It feels exciting and very challenging, of course, but there is now so much experience and commitment linked to major events in Umeå that I am sure we will be able to create something really good together. Then I hope that we will be able to build a structure and working method that we can take with us in our future event work so that we are even better equipped for future event initiatives.”

In addition to leading the Swedish Championships Week project, Henrik will also take on a new role as head of event development in Umeå. This expanded focus aims to enhance long-term strategic development work related to events, including recruitment, collaboration, and development of the location.

About Visit Umeå

Visit Umeå is the destination company responsible for developing, marketing, and selling Umeå and the Umeå region’s tourist offerings to prioritized and relevant target groups. The goal is to attract more incoming private, group, and meeting travelers to the destination. The company also works to develop, market, and sell Umeå city center to priority target groups to drive more visitors to the center and contribute to an attractive and vibrant city core.

For more information, visit the original press release.