Three-time Swedish U-18 national team member Mira Markström is hanging up her skates at age 18 to pursue a floorball career.

Teenage Swedish hockey star Mira Markström has decided to hang up her skates at age 18. Markström who was named a top player on Team Sweden's U-18 national team two seasons ago, and helped Sweden win silver at the U-18's this year, has chosen to pursue a career in floorball instead of hockey.

For Markström, the choice between two sports she loves was not easy, eventually floorball won out.

"It's very emotional, one of the hardest things I've done in my entire life. There were some tears," she said to SVT Sport.

Sweden features prominent professional floorball leagues and Sweden's women's national team has won gold in the sport in eight straight World Championships. The decision explains Markström's absence from Sweden's recent ice hockey World Championship roster, where she was a notable omission.

Markström plays for Jönköpings IK in floorball, and played in the SDHL with HV71 this season scoring 11 points in 24 games. In recent seasons Markström has not played full campaigns in the SDHL as she simultaneously played floorball, splitting time equally between the sports.

""I have an incredible love for both hockey and floorball," told Swedish media. "Of course, it was tough to have to opt out of something that you have done all the time and that has been your everyday life since you were three or four years old."

At World Championship events Markstrom often spoke about how floorball, a version of floor hockey, helped her be a better player on the ice.

With her skates hung up, Mira Markström now turns her attention to making Sweden's U-19 national team, followed by their senior national floorball team.