Mountain bike brothers Oliver and Ben Zwar to represent Sweden

Oliver, 24 and Ben, 20, are eligible to make the switch from representing Australia due to their mother's Swedish heritage and have taken the chance to further their careers.

In a recent interview with Australian Mountain Bike Magazine, the pair stated it had become increasingly difficult to race for Australia due to the huge costs involved.

"We had just put everything into the world cup races beforehand, we had spent thousands of dollars racing in Europe and there was nothing at all support wise from MTBA (Mountain Bike Australia," Oliver told AMB.

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Oliver and Ben have kept in contact with one of the Swedish Federation trainers after he had met their mother at the 2017 World Championships in Cairns.

The pair caught up with the trainer midway through last season and the idea of switching was raised.

"We basically told him that we were planning on moving to Sweden but still race as Australians," Oliver said.

"During this long meeting he told us all the opportunities and benefits of training with the Swedish Federation and representing Sweden.

"This was right before 2019 world champs (in Canada) when we were waiting on selection to represent Australia.

"We finally got the call that we were both selected to race for Australia. Ever since we got into the sport, our dream was to race for Australia, to race in the green and gold at world champs for Australia.

"We got in touch with MTBA and Cycling Aus about what what was involved and what support do we get in this process. You get a shirt, some shorts, a jersey and access to the team mechanic and that was really it."

Ben added he and Oliver had to stay around an hour away from the World Championship venue, with no help besides each other.

"It was pretty much just us in the tent," Ben said.

"While we were there one of the Swedish coaches came up to us and jokingly said 'this would have all been paid for if you were racing for Sweden'."

"It basically made our decision easy to move over to Sweden in 2020 and race for the Swedish Federation.

"Being that most of the races of the World Cup are in Europe it makes sense for us to move over there.

"We have already done one camp in Spain with them at the end of last year and we have another one coming up in two weeks in Italy, and that's all covered for. We are already feeling like we are part of something bigger."

They will stay in Sweden until after the final World Cup event in September, before re-assessing their options.