Road to Australia/New Zealand: This Is How Swedish National Player Amanda Ilestedt Plans to Get an “Extra Edge” Through Data
Paris Saint-Germain (and future Arsenal London) defender Amanda Ilestedt doesn’t want to leave anything to chance: Before she joins the Swedish national team on July 8, she is undergoing individual training preparation. The training control is based on sports data analytics that will be provided by a KINEXON player tracker. Get insights into her training strategy and follow her journey all the way to Australia/New Zealand.
Her resume speaks for itself:
- Silver medal winner at the 2021 Olympics (Tokyo)
- French Cup winner in 2022
- German champion in 2021
- Multiple Swedish championships
- Swedish Defender of the Year 2021
She also takes her football training very seriously. She is always looking for ways to improve, as she gets set to make her third World Cup appearance with Sweden this summer.
llestedt was on the Swedish women’s team that finished in 3rd place in 2019. Knowing her team was so close to winning it all four years ago, she wants nothing more than to see her team improve this time around.
Experienced (And Familiar) Football Training Expert to Help Ilestedt
So, to prepare for this year’s event in Australia and New Zealand, llestedt is turning to her partner Rainer Mueller and KINEXON Sports for help. Mueller is an experienced player, having stints with Erfurt, Babelsberg, Magdeburg, Meppen, who is now a well-respected coach, trainer, and sports scientist. That’s where KINEXON comes in.
Mueller will compile sports data from KINEXON PERFORM GPS Pro. It’s a player tracking device that Amanda will wear during her individual training in the next weeks. Mueller will then analyze the data to develop insights that he can put into action in future training.
“We are both very passionate about sports. The goal is (for Amanda) to enter team training at a high level, (and now) there is a greater emphasis on football speed.”
Why Ilestedt Chose KINEXON
The couple will work with René Prüßner, who leads KINEXON’s sports science team and will be supported by Jana Hubel. They will help analyze the data and the couple’s routines, combining his (Prüßner’s) expertise with Mueller’s.
“One major advantage is that I have the experience and education (M.A. Sports Science) to utilize data in training,” Mueller said.
Mueller chose to work with KINEXON because of the chance to use a mobile, cloud-based system that provides live data (and the possibility to train anywhere without any infrastructure or internet connection needed if only post data is needed).
“We hope to gain an extra edge in our training with Kinexon. The aim is to quickly approach the demands of the game. Running loads in the forest are relatively easy to track in terms of distance and speed. However, since we are now focusing more on football-specific training, data is important. We want to track accelerations, speeds, and high intensity running distances to professionalize our training and plan it more effectively.”
Follow Amanda’s Road to Australia and New Zealand
Amanda, Rainer, as well as KINEXON Sports Scientists Jana and René will share some findings and information about the training regiments and personal insights, in this blog. We’ll continue to track “Amanda’s Road to Australia and New Zealand” and share her story.
Want to know more about the player tracking and performance analysis solution Amanda Ilestedt and Rainer Mueller are working with? Download the free brochure here!
Performance and Progress Evaluation by KINEXON
Throughout Amanda’s preparation, we observed a clear plan and execution based on the collected data. Week one commenced with basic endurance sessions, progressively adding more intense exercises such as football-related sprints, changes of direction, and intervals.
Gradually, technical and tactical exercises were incorporated to simulate specific game situations.From a sports science standpoint, this approach serves several purposes: to condition the body for the required strain, enhance stability in the knees and ankles – crucial for women athletes – and improve Amanda’s VO2max, boosting her endurance during matches.
What Player Tracking by KINEXON Can Do for Women Athletes
In 2022, KINEXON launched an initiative to support professionalization in women’s sports in the areas of training and load management and sports data analysis.
It includes a dashboard with features specifically designed to meet the needs of women athletes.
One example: With KINEXON’s so-called “cycle-oriented demand planner” coaches can easily monitor and control the workload of women athletes based on individual menstrual cycle and well-being. This guide explains how it works.
New Ways to Reduce Injury Risks
Studies show that all four phases of the menstrual cycle can impact the performance of women athletes. It can affect everything from injury risk to movement during a game or practice.
In fact, women athletes are up to six times more likely to suffer an ACL injury than men.
Learn more about KINEXON’s Women’s Initiative and the need for individualized sports analytics for women athletes here.
Want to Know More?
More stories
How Basketball Performance Data Connects the Court and Weight Room
What happens on the court shapes what athletes need in the weight room. Purdue’s Jason Kabo shares how he cross-references KINEXON performance data with sprint testing and other measures to adjust training, manage individual workloads, and guide daily decisions.
From Jump Count to a More Complete View of Volleyball Load
Jump count is one of the most familiar metrics in volleyball, but it only captures part of an athlete’s physical performance. Looking at movement intensity, like acceleration or changes of direction, and position-specific demands can provide the context needed for a more complete view of the overall load.
Limited Camps, High Demands: Preparing for International Handball Tournaments
The Women’s EHF EURO and Men’s World Championship present a similar challenge for performance staff: preparing players for an intense tournament with limited time together. How can national teams use the camps leading into competition to better understand and manage individual load?
How Drill Intensity Shapes Weekly Basketball Load Targets
Basketball coaches need more than a list of practice drills. Historical performance data and drill intensity help coaches refine practice plans, manage individual workloads and adjust the next session based on what athletes actually completed.
Sustainability: Can the Athlete Maintain Intensity Throughout the Duration of the Game?
Matching game workloads are only part of athlete preparation. Can players sustain high-intensity efforts when fatigue builds? Read more from Dayannara Munoz, KINEXON Sports Customer Success Manager, about how performance data helps coaches assess changes in output, compare practice with competition, and prepare athletes to meet the demands of the entire game.
How Individualized Football Performance Data Improves Load Management
Football performance data helps coaches move beyond team averages to individualize load management. By combining GPS metrics with each athlete’s role, historical data, and readiness, coaches can identify the right exposure, reduce excessive stress, guide recovery, and better prepare every player for game day.
Beyond the National Team Window: How the DHB Connects Performance Data
National teams spend only a fraction of the season with their athletes. See how the German Handball Federation connects club and national-team data to maintain performance context across the season and support individual decisions when players move between environments.
One Athlete, Two Jerseys: Connecting Athlete Monitoring Between Club and Country
When athletes move between club and country, their performance history moves with them. The 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup highlights why monitoring continuity matters when athletes arrive with different workloads, competition exposure and preparation behind them.
The Role of Connected Ball Technology in Modern Officiating
From ghost goals to offsides, officiating technology has steadily raised fairness in football. But the one element at the center of every decision, the ball, has until now been silent. Connected Ball Technology (CBT) changes that, giving football’s most iconic object its own voice.
COMPETE Vision on a New Level: Refined for Faster Insights
The latest COMPETE Vision update streamlines the entire performance analysis workflow, from camera setup to automated reporting. Faster uploads, improved player identification, automated court calibration, and smarter player assignment help coaches spend less time managing technology and more time turning objective data into coaching decisions.
How KINEXON Game Insights Gives Basketball Coaches the Tactical Advantage
Basketball coaches already use in-game tracking data to evaluate their athlete’s physical exposure. As more teams adopt performance tracking methodologies, that same underlying data source can extend beyond physical optimization and be utilized to compare rosters, assess opponents, and understand the demands behind each matchup.
From Data to Decisions: Six Key Takeaways from Elite Handball Performance Practitioners
Elite handball is one of the most physically demanding team sports in the world. Within sixty minutes, players sprint, decelerate, jump, throw, change direction, absorb contact, and repeat those actions under fatigue, all while making split-second tactical decisions.
From Potential to Performance: How AI, Ball & Player Tracking Are Transforming Talent Identification in Youth Football
How can AI, player and ball tracking, and expert scouting work together to identify football talent? Discover how Skillers Academy, SAP, and KINEXON Sports combine connected technologies and human expertise to create a more objective and accessible approach to youth talent identification.
How Xavier Women’s Basketball Optimizes Daily Load Targets for Low- and High-Minute Players
Optimizing daily workloads goes beyond keeping players fresh. For Xavier’s Gil Weinstein, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, daily (and weekly) performance reports helped connect practice loads to game demands, guide workload adjustments, and support 99% player availability throughout the 2025 – 26 season.
Inside Columbia Women’s Basketball’s Approach to In-Season Load Management
Managing in-season workloads takes more than tracking minutes. Performance data helps basketball coaches individualize weekly targets, adjust practice plans, and keep high-minute players, role players, and scout team athletes prepared to perform.