--- title: "Truls Möregårdh reflects on recognition and world ranking at WTT Europe Smash, Sweden 2026; defending home champion" sdDatePublished: "2026-08-08T13:56:00Z" source: "https://www.olympics.com/en/news/truls-moeregardh-recognition-world-ranking-high-title-defence-2026-wtt-europe-smash" topics: - name: "sport" identifier: "medtop:15000000" locations: - "Malmö" - "Düsseldorf" - "Germany" - "Sweden" --- Truls Möregårdh reflects on recognition and world ranking at WTT Europe Smash, Sweden 2026; defending home champion Truls Möregårdh reflects on table tennis recognition and world ranking high ahead of title defence at WTT Europe Smash Truls Möregårdh reflects on recognition and world ranking high ahead of title defence at WTT Europe Smash After winning his first career Grand Smash title on home soil last year, double Olympic silver medallist Truls Möregårdh returns for a trophy defence at the WTT Europe Smash - Sweden 2026. He recently told Olympics.com about what it's like to have reached a new career-best in the world rankings and how he deals with being recognised on the streets. Truls Möregårdh slowly walked backwards , a disbelieving look on his face, as his table tennis coach, his brother Malte, hurdled the boards and engulfed him in a bear hug. The Swede had just accomplished his biggest achievement yet , winning his first career Grand Smash event – on home soil, no less – at last year's WTT Europe Smash - Sweden 2025 . And he'd done it in some style, outlasting the then-world-No.1 Lin Shidong in seven games. It was the catalyst for a mammoth second half of the 2025 season which saw the now-24-year-old add the WTT Champions Montpellier title and a runner-up finish at the season-ending WTT Finals . While this season so far hasn't played out in the same swashbuckling way the Swede ended 2025 – semi-final finishes at each of the season's first two Grand Smash tournaments have seen him fall just short of more silverware – a return to home soil for this week's 2026 WTT Europe Smash as the defending champion might help. That said, having reached a new world ranking best of world No.2 this year, Möregårdh is plenty happy with his season so far. "Obviously the last half year from August to December was amazing, it's tough to do these kind of tournaments all over again," he told Olympics.com in April. "I'm satisfied, it was a better start than what I had last year, I have a deserved world ranking that is very high right now, so I'm very happy for that and hopefully I can continue to grow." Europe Smash 2026: Anders Lind's rise from serious car accident to world top 16 Truls Möregårdh was eliminated in the semi-finals at both the 2026 United States Smash (pictured) and 2026 Singapore Smash. Reaching that new career high in the world rankings has brought its own share of challenges and changes. While Sweden's expectations of Möregårdh were already high after his haul from Paris, the attention on him has grown. "I feel that I always have a lot of expectations on me in Sweden, but now also from other countries," he acknowledged. "I would say it's most tough when you are world number two. You're always chased by the players that are even top eight in the world rankings. "If they can play more relaxed against me because I'm world No.2, it's going to be way tougher for me to win against them. So that's the biggest change." However, his success has not resulted in a change in approach. In fact, Möregårdh has not found it difficult to park his triumphs to one side to focus on the task at hand. "I feel it's quite easy actually, because this sport is so difficult so you always need to go back to the training hall and find solutions on how to become better in the sport," he noted. "So you always need to be down to earth; if you start to fly a little bit then it's game over. So I'm trying to be steady, and be impressed by all the players I always see every day." Men's Singles Gold Medal Match | Table Tennis | Olympic Games Paris 2024 The Men's Singles Table Tennis Gold Medal Match was held on 04 2024 at South Paris Arena 4, Paris. Fan Zhendong (CHN) claimed the Gold with a 4:1 victory against Truls Moregard (SWE). Greater recognition in Sweden – but why has Möregårdh chosen to not leave home? His Olympic exploits led to him beating out both Mondo Duplantis and Sarah Sjöström to win the coveted 2024 People's Choice Athlete of the Year award ( Jerringpriset ) in Sweden. Last year's home success only made him an even more popular name among Swedish fans. At the US Smash earlier this summer, which overlapped the FIFA World Cup , Möregårdh even met and hung out with retired Swedish superstar footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović . He admitted that he gets stopped pretty often in Sweden, but is happy to take photos and sign autographs for fans – after all, table tennis may be a sport with one of the largest reaches in the country right now. "Yeah, in Sweden it's tough, definitely, [but] it's super fun. I feel that the whole sport is almost the biggest sport in entire Sweden right now. "So many young people are playing and they always come up to me and say that they play with this (Möregårdh's own specially designed) racket and everything, so it's cool to live. "It's [been a] long time after the Olympics and it's still just holding up, which I'm also super happy about, so I'm enjoying it and trying to be down to earth with it." And being the face of that continuing wave of interest in table tennis in Sweden is just fine with the 24-year-old, who has decided to remain based in his home country instead of moving elsewhere, such as traditional European powerhouse Germany. "I feel it's very fun. I'm one of the few who lives in Sweden still," he said. "It's very normal to move to maybe Düsseldorf or some places like that but I've chosen to stay there and to see it [the popularity] every day is really cool and I'm happy to represent it. "I think I'm doing it in a good way right now so hopefully I can keep it up." Picture by World Table Tennis (Flickr Picture by World Table Tennis Table Tennis | Europe Smash | Malmö | Sweden