Next Sunday, Andreas Almgren will make his marathon debut, running 42,195 metres on the streets of New York for the first time. The successful runner from Sollentuna is continuing his training at high altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, this week, and the 31-year-old is not hiding the fact that he feels in good shape.
I’m continuing to build on my confidence, but what has surprised me is how well I’ve responded to the training, Almgren tells TT in an interview.
“Almost mean”
Training has slowly started to taper off ahead of the New York Marathon. For Almgren, this means that last week he “only” ran 200 kilometres - instead of 225…
My biggest worry beforehand was how tired I would be after running 35–40 kilometres at quite a hard pace. But for me, two easier days afterwards were enough, Almgren says.
Then he corrects himself with a laugh:
It’s almost mean to call it easy. Because I’ve still been out on the second day and run 25 kilometres pretty fast.
What is reasonably fast?
Just under four minutes per kilometre, but that’s at an altitude of 2,100 metres, and I deliberately run on very hilly roads. It’s probably a really tough session for a lot of people.
Andreas Almgren’s marathon debut will cap a competitive year in which his sensational progress has continued. He won European Championship gold in the 10,000 metres in Birmingham and World Championship gold in the half marathon in Copenhagen.
Open to Olympic double
That Almgren will focus wholeheartedly on track running next year - and the World Championships in Beijing in September - is set in stone.
When it comes to the 2028 Olympics, everything is less clear. The competition programme for the Los Angeles Olympics has already been released, and the Swede sees an opportunity to compete in two events, just as American Galen Rupp did in Rio de Janeiro ten years ago.
Rupp finished fifth in the 10,000 metres and took bronze in the marathon eight days later. In LA, there are more than two weeks between the races that interest Andreas Almgren.
The 10,000 metres is on the first day and the marathon on the last day. It could work, he says.
In that case, I should still have a clear plan for which event I want to focus on most - and I’d say there’s a 95 per cent chance it’ll be the 10,000. But I haven’t ruled anything out.
Born: June 12, 1995.
Club: Turebergs FK.
Championship medals: World Championship bronze in the 10,000 metres in 2025, European Championship gold in the 10,000 metres in 2026, World Championship gold in the half marathon in 2026.
Current: Running the classic New York Marathon on November 1, which will also be Almgren’s debut at the distance.