Andreas Almgren runs 26:53 European record in Valencia 10k! New European record! 13:43 1st half - 13:10 2nd half!

Word is that the pacer called in sick.

Google Translate ain't perfect, pacer becomes "cruise control" etc, but here's an article straight from Sweden ran (no pun intended) through it:

www-friidrottaren-com.translate.goog

Europarekord av Andreas Almgren

Open link

This Swedish bloke never fails to amaze. What an aerobic monster this guy is. Big congratz! Looking forward to see him run 10 000m at Worlds in September.

13:44/13:10 splits and beating Lobalu is really good. Deceptively great performance. He’d need a further jump to be up there with Grant, Aregawi, Kejelcha, Kibet, Ahmed, Barega, but he’s right at the top of the second tier now.

I was like dang he just missed a pb, but then I saw that 13:10 second half! Holy crap that's great lmao good for him. This shape in January bodes real well

Last year he ran 26:53 in March at the 10 with worse splits. I'm not sure it's deceptively great, it might just be a great performance and a statement that he's gonna be a medal contender this year. I agree he's gonna need another jump in fitness, but given that it's only January (and he has 8 months to build on this fitness), he's gonna be there so long as he's healthy.

Do you mean better? Didn’t they go 13:32/13:21 or so there? This performance while road is better.

What shoes?

Alpha 3s.

Super strong from Almgren, the commentator made it sound like he was "just" targeting something near 27 flat. Thought he was about to be dropped in the last km but hung in there and had a great kick. The closing 5k split by the top3 was impressive even if there was a but of a tailwind

I think Almgren thought: "keep calm, don´t make the same mistake from 2024 European Champs 10 000m".

Anyone Remember? Andreas Almgren did a long sprint with 300m to go, but got kicked down by Dominic Lubalu (Gold - Switzerland) Yann Schrub (France - silver) and Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain - Bronze) on the final stretch, with a disappointed 4th place. Shortly after, he suffered from a stress reaction in his tibia and had to drop the Olympics.

This record must have tasted really good. A perfect start of 2025!

There was no pacer

Never would've expected a fellow Swedish runner being a European record holder, this guy is a beast

Holds every Swedish record from the 1500 to the half marathon, while having a 1:45 800m PB

He's been injured basically every season in his career up until recently, when he started out doing double threshold training and getting training tips and help directly from the Ingebrigtsen brothers, which has done a lot to make him less injury ridden.

And when he is injured (God forbid he will this year), he hammers 5-6 hour sessions on the bike + some threshold sessions on the elliptical instead. Would have been a few levels belov Pogacar if he had wanted to focus on cycling instead. But after today's race, I prefer him to stick to running ;)

You sure? Thought it looked more like the Vaporfly 3

Can someone explains those strange spilts? It looks like Almgren could run in the 26:40 or maybe a little faster with a better paced race.

Nope, Vaporfly 3.

The pacer called in sick so no one was willing to lead from the start at the planned pace.