European 10km record-holder talks about moving up in the world, making history, training with Jakob Ingebrigtsen and targeting Birmingham gold.
Andreas Almgren feels like he is only just getting started. “If I can get the perfect race with good pacers, there’s a lot more in my body to go quicker,” he says. Less than a month has passed since the Swede knocked eight seconds off his own European 10km record, running 26:45 to win in Valencia and moving himself up to sixth on the all-time list. It was just his fourth competitive race over the distance on the roads.
The 30-year-old has now swapped the flat and fast tarmac of Valencia with the mountainous terrain of Sierra Nevada, a high-altitude training base – situated 2320m/7611 feet above sea level – in the Andalusian province of Granada.
His plan is to stay there for a few more weeks before travelling to Castellón to race over 10km on February 22. Yomif Kejelcha ran 26:31 to win last year’s edition, a mark which put the Ethiopian second on the all-time list, and Almgren is viewing the race as an opportunity to go even faster once again – especially given his assertion that Valencia wasn’t perfect.
“The pacer only managed three to four kilometres, so that was a little bit of a disappointment,” he tells AW. “I had to run six kilometres by myself. The conditions were really good, though.”
His final workout ahead of the race was an indoor 10x1km interval session, which totalled 25:37, four seconds quicker than what the 30-year-old managed in the same session before last year’s edition.
“Using bike pace on an indoor track is a bit of a cheat code,” Almgren jokes. “So I was sure that I was capable of improving my record. It’s only been two years since my first ever 10km race [27:38 in Valencia] so right now I feel like I’m harvesting the seeds that I planted a few years ago. For any endurance sport you just need time to develop. It’s quite natural that I’m improving now.
“It’s hard to say if I can target the world record [Rhonex Kipruto’s 26:24 from 2020] as I still have to shave off over 20 seconds. I think I can run in the 26:30s soon, though. Hopefully I have a shot of running well in Castellón.”
Last year, Almgren proved his versatility across multiple distances, setting European records in the 5000m (12:44.27) and half-marathon (58:41), as well as national marks over 3000m, 5km and 10,000m. Perhaps most memorably, though, he secured the first senior global medal of his career at the World Championships in Tokyo, with bronze behind Jimmy Gressier and Kejelcha. It was the first time that two European male athletes had made the world 10,000m podium since 1987.
“I’m finally at the level that I want to be,” he says. “In 2024 I felt like a bit of an outsider. Now I feel like I’m one of the top guys and I have the confidence to just go to the front of a race and control it.
“I had prepared for ‘sit-and-kick’ tactics at the Olympics but I missed the Games due to a stress fracture. I then got back into full training in October 2024 and, since then, I’ve barely had any breaks in my preparation. My form now is just proof of what can happen when you finally get some consistency.
“I did some serious heat training ahead of the championships in Tokyo. I knew the humidity would be high. I also worked a lot on my kick and pace changes during the summer, which I hadn’t done in previous years.”
Almgren is coached by Urban Aruhn, who just last month was voted as Coach of the Year at the Swedish Athletics Gala. The pair have worked with each other since 2012 and their relationship has steadily evolved over 14 years.
Almgren competed in the 800m and claimed a bronze medal at the 2014 European Junior Championships in 1:45.65, a time that still stands as the Swedish under-20 record. He lowered that two-lap PB to 1:45.59 in 2015 but was then dogged by multiple injuries over a number of years.
In 2019, whilst sitting on a training bike as part of rehabilitation from a stress fracture in his sacrum, he watched compatriot Kalle Berglund make the world 1500m final in Doha. That moment was a turning point. After returning from injury Almgren added two double threshold sessions to his training week – the Norwegian method that inspired Berglund – and, to test out his new training schedule, competed in the 3000m at the 2020 Swedish Indoor Championships.
Almgren not only broke the Swedish indoor 3000m record with 7:48.34 but beat Berglund by almost 10 seconds. He has since prioritised the longer distances and never looked back.
“The type of training that I now do means that I can essentially build a base anywhere from the 1500m to the half-marathon,” Almgren says. “Urban was like a ‘pure coach’ when I was younger but it’s more of a two-way street now where we discuss base training. So I usually write the programme and then ask him what he thinks about it. He makes me question things. For example, he’ll say: ‘Do you really think this is the optimal thing for this session?’. If we’re getting near a race, I’ve done well in the session and we’re approaching the last workout, he’ll also say: ‘Are you sure you need to do this last interval?’. I really like this set-up.”
Asked about his current training in Sierra Nevada, Almgren says: “I usually run around 200km per week. On Mondays and Wednesdays I’ve got two easy runs and some strides, which is kind of prehab training. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I do double thresholds.
“Friday is the easiest day, where it’s one easy run of about 10-12km and there’s some strength work as well. On Saturday I have my toughest workout and it’s a mix of hill work and half-marathon training. Then, in the afternoon, it’s an easy run. On Sunday it’s a long run, around 25-30km right now, and some strength work in the afternoon.
“For my easy runs I always go by feel. So if I feel fatigued I’ll go more slowly and then, if I’m feeling good, I can run them pretty fast. On my long runs I can average anywhere from 3:30 to 4:10/km.”
Training inspiration isn’t in short supply, either. Almgren has spent a lot of time with Jakob Ingebrigtsen and being up close with the Norwegian during sessions has been invaluable.
“Training with Jakob is definitely motivating,” he says. “We ran a lot together last winter and he was insanely strong. Everyone saw that when he broke both the world indoor 1500m (3:29.63) and mile (3:49.15) records in Liévin. He was then so impressive winning double gold at the European and World Indoor Championships.
“We’ve discussed training quite a bit but it’s more the general philosophy than any specific thing like gym routines or nutrition. He’s been very open to me about what he believes in. I think he’s also appreciated training with me as we’re quite similar doing thresholds.
“It’s more when you get to the faster, more specific, workouts that he’s at a different level. I’ve been humbled by him in a lot of them. He can just run so fast without feeling the effects of lactate. I get quite jealous of that.”
So which areas of training does Almgren believe he can improve in? “Everywhere,” he laughs. “I can obviously be faster in sit-and-kick races but I also see myself getting stronger in those ‘semi-hard’ areas in training – so not when you’re going full lactic and not when you’re doing thresholds. I’ve developed a lot in that ‘middle ground’ area over the past year but there’s still a long way to go.
“I’m still learning new things when it comes to thresholds and I also want my body to handle lactate a lot better in the future. I haven’t actually competed in that many longer distance races. I’ve only run two half-marathons [Barcelona 2024 and Valencia 2025], for example. I’ve matured a lot over the past few years and that just comes with experience. I’ve been a lot better at listening to my body.”
Almgren will train in Sierra Nevada in the spring before switching to use St Moritz as a base in the summer months. His main goal this year is to secure European 10,000m gold in Birmingham.
“I haven’t stood on the top of the podium at a major championships yet,” he says. “I also want to improve my 5000m best of 12:44.27 and lay down a mark of 12:3 something this season [Joshua Cheptegei’s world record of 12:35.36 has stood since 2020].”
He is undecided on whether to compete in the 5000m at the inaugural World Ultimate Championships in Budapest or the half-marathon at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen. Just six days separate the events in September.
“The main thing for me this season, above anything else, is staying injury-free,” adds Almgren. “I suffered from them over so many years and that stays with you. I feel like I’m in a much better position in my career now so the future will be very interesting.”