Nina Janmyr ’26’s love of diving developed in improbable circumstances. After a week of diving camp in the cold and pouring rain, she discovered the sport that would become a major part of her life for the foreseeable future. Janymer’s mom could not believe that, after executing no more than 14 dives that week, she wanted to start training full-time. In her own words, “I don’t really know what I was thinking at that point.” Now as a member of the Harvard women’s swim and dive team, Janmyr has transformed this initial love into NCAA and international success. After winning the Ivy League championship in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard categories, she returned to the NCAAs on March 22 and finished the meet ranked 40th in the country.
Janmyr has been able to train in both the United States and Sweden as a result of her family moving back and forth while she was in middle school. Born in Sweden, Janmyr moved to California at age twelve. After staying two years longer than expected, she moved back to Sweden after her freshman year of high school. She continued diving throughout her time in both the U.S. and Sweden, training with girls who would later go on to be her teammates at Harvard. Reflecting on the difference between competing in both countries, Janmyr told the Independent, “Because all of the meets that I would go to, I would see…the same people. You get really close with all of the other Swedes at that level.” This has shifted to now competing in the NCAA, which sponsors 202 Division I diving programs. Additionally, she remarked diving at Harvard is “so much more a part of your life because like you’re training with your team, you’re competing with your team, you’re living basically with your team.”
In Sweden, there are very limited opportunities to compete after graduating high school. As a result, Janmyr decided to come back to the US in order to compete collegiately. She was supported by her coaches in the Swedish national system, who she commented “have realized now that the best way for our team to grow and keep going is to go to the States.” There are other Swedish divers currently competing in the NCAA as well, including most of the Swedish national team.
After deciding to return to the U.S., Janmyr faced the challenge of navigating recruiting during the COVID-19 pandemic. She committed to Harvard before ever seeing the campus, having only experienced the athletic facilities through Zoom and FaceTime calls with the coaches. Furthermore, Janmyr explained that she “missed the official visit for my class because the borders were closed. I couldn’t get into the country.” Despite not getting to meet the team until Visitas, Janmyr was confident in her decision because “every single one of those women on that team was [a person that I] looked up to immediately… It seemed like they all really loved each other.”
Despite being on a team, diving itself is a completely individual sport. Collegiate diving meets are structured so that each diver has 6 dives total that must include at least one dive from 5 categories. As Janmyr put it, “There’s no room for errors in diving. It’s six dives, and each of those dives matters.” Due to tight scoring margins, messing up one dive often results in missing out on placing at meets. To perform in a high-stakes environment, Janmyr utilizes visualization and modeling techniques in her pre-dive rituals. By envisioning her dives going well and then moving through the physical movements as much as possible, Janmyr can calm her mind and focus on performing her dives as cleanly as possible. She also always makes sure to smile at the judges.
During her two seasons thus far, Janmyr has continued to succeed in competitions while developing her skills under a different coaching style than in Sweden. Janmyr had trained with her Swedish coach, Sanna Wallertoft, from the early days of her career. In comparison to her usual coach, she commented that Matt O’Neill, the head dive coach at Harvard, is good at “trying to keep it light, trying to make sure that we still love the sport. He gives us corrections, but he loves a good dad joke.”
Janmyr’s time as part of the Harvard Women’s Swim and Dive has been one of the highlights of her diving career. In reflecting on what makes the team so special, she stated, “I think being a part of Harvard women’s swim and dive is just a fantastic environment to have fun and compete together as a team, which is not really something that you get otherwise when you’re doing an individual sport.” Pointing to the Ivy Championship meet as the highlight of the season, Janmyr also commented on the electric energy around the pool. She feels that the environment “brings a lot of nerves, but also makes it even more exciting.”
Looking to the future, Janmyr is not sure if she will continue to dive after college. In her own words, “It’s a sport that you can do for a long time,” pointing to Olympic divers who are still competing at age 40. If she returns to Sweden, there are very limited opportunities to continue to compete with the frequency she does now. Ultimately, Janmyr does not want to completely abandon the sport her 7-year-old self fell in love with. Right now, she is focused on getting better every meet and soaking up every precious moment with her team.
Kate Oliver ’26 (koliver@college.harvard.edu) prefers doing cannonballs off of a diving board.