Andreas Almgren 26:46, where would he have finished in the World Cross?

You're absolutely right - thank you for the correction.

1. Kiplimo 28:18

8. Ndikumenayo, Spain, 29:16 (top European)

9. Kipkemoi 29:18 (60 seconds)

15. Gressier 29:36 (1.18)

Doubtful that the Swede would have beaten the top European - Ndikumenayo, former Burundi (until 2023). Ndikumenayo is an absolute monster on the track - 7:25.93/12:47.67/26:49.49.

It's all conjecture anyway and I don't think the Swede (Almgren ) is concerned about the world cross country. Hopefully Andreas can hold his form until 2028 but I'm wondering will he ever move up to the marathon? At first glance he would seem to be too heavy and muscular to be successful at the marathon but I might be wrong.

I'm guessing Andreas Almgren's sweet spot might be road 10km/15km/half marathon. He just ran 26:46 in Valencia leading the whole way.

By the way, watching the race yesterday I reflected that those arches - multiple finishing arches that they put in Valencia are ridiculous and Almgren actually lost a couple of seconds when he hesitated at the first arch thinking it was the finish but was then waved on. There were no fewer than four arches every few meters which added to the confusion. Ridiculous....what were the organisers thinking 🤔?

Bekele would of won. Andreas Almgren would be place somewhere the equivalent of Craig Mottram if comparing with other non African greats.

Mottram, all 6.2/1.88 in height, ran in a different era without super shoes, etc. I think if Craig had been teleported to this era, he'd be close to Almgren. "The Big Mzungu" was a beast....with good range.

Interesting factoid - Mottram's brother, Neil - was an International Professional basketball player, played in Italy and Sweden.

Neil Mottram

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Neil Mottram

BIO: Neil Mottram was born in Melbourne (VIC) Mottram received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1999. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (1999,...

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excellent analysis!

onljy objection i have about weight...i think almgren is lighter...prolly closer to 60 kg. at least not over 65 kg. he is really a small guy..

he's 66kg

Swedish runner Andreas Almgren is 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) tall and weighs approximately 66 kg (145 lbs).

Almgren's BMI - 21.1..which is significantly heavier than most elite distance runners. Dude's a beast. Would not look out of place on the soccer (football) field....which I believe he played as a youth. A guy like Kejelcha has a BMI around 17 (!) which is actually underweight. Yes Yomif is an outlier but there are many female distance runners under 18.5 BMI - think people like McColgan for example.

Most elite runners are 15 to 20 under their height in centimeters. He's only 11 under his heigh in cm. The muscles weigh more than fat....in that respect Andreas is something of an outlier. Dude is all muscles.

It would've been fun to find out. Feel like a lot of individual athletes, & countries, skipped World XC this year.

On another note, does anyone know where Valentina SCA ended up?

Jonathan is going to text this thread to his coach as we text him all the time.

The guy is a former 800 runner. I don't think he'd do well at xc at all. Ghost1's post is about right.

Ok. We have exchanged whatsapp messages with Jordan Donnelly who coaches Almgren with Urban Aruhn.

I added in the bold.

He also sent a video which I LOVED. He said this video shows the difference between Africans and non-Africans on an xc course. The first car you see in the following video are the Africans running XC. The next two is the Americans/Europeans.

Doper!!!!

He’s run a 1:45.6 so I don’t think his sweet spot is 10K+. The 5000m should be his best distance.

Last

Almgren would have medaled. Silver or Bronze.

The other thing Jordan Donnelly sent us was also important:

Andreas does a hilly long run, but never hilly 3/6/10-minute intervals like Africans do.

African 100-mile week = 75 miles over rough, rocky terrain

Andreas 100-mile week = 0 miles on rough terrain and maybe 6-10 miles over some mills

Weekly, monthly, annual accumulation of that "skill" matters a lot at World XC

He ran that time in 2015 its not like he could run a particularly fast 800m today (compared to other 5-10k guys). He got injured in 2016 and loss a lot of his natural speed

Probably 10th behind Thierry (Euro XC champ) who by virtue of being African born with close enough PBs is better at XC.

Jakob at best would be top 5.