Will Drammen 10K see Andreas Almgren continue his record-breaking run?

What next for Sweden’s Andreas Almgren?

He may have turned 30 last year but he is getting quicker and quicker and a tune-up session before the recent Valencia 10K grabbed the attention.

He did 10 x 1km reps in 2:34/km average, with just 60 seconds rest in between, and as a COROS athlete he shared the data beforehand.

As one of the final checks before racing, the workout – with those short recoveries – is designed to show whether he can hold race pace under fatigue. If the numbers line up and the effort feels controlled, it’s a clear sign he’s ready to race.

And the numbers did line up (click here for more detail on the COROS blog), with his average heart rate of 162bpm, suggesting his own European record was very much under threat.

Exciting times

That proved to be the case as he clocked a 26:45 to take eight seconds off his previous best.

His first eight kilometre splits were all within a few seconds of each other (2:39 to 2:43), his cadence was a consistent 186, and his heart rate levelled off in the mid-170s.

And when the time came to push in the final 2K, his body was ready to make the move as he moved up a gear to finish in style with 2:37 and 2:35 splits.

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“Racing well here puts me in a very good position for the summer. This year, I’ve made a few changes compared to last year, so to take more time off the European record is very exciting,” he said afterwards.

What’s next?

This was just the latest in a long line of new PBs over the last 12 months – he became the first European to go under 27 minutes on the road when winning the Valencia 10k with a 26:53 in 2025 and then set a 5,000m best on the track in front of a home crowd at the Stockholm Diamond League in June.

He then returned to Valencia in October for the Half Marathon where he smashed the European record of 59:13 with a 58:41.

Next up is the Drammen 10K on April 11, which is billed as Norway’s fastest 10K with just 22 metres of elevation.

It’s an evening race which should ramp up the support – can he shave further time off his European record and close the gap on the world best of 26:24, set by Kenya’s Rhonex Kipruto in Valencia in 2020?