For just over a month ago, the news came that Andreas Almgren, due to injury problems, would opt out of 10,000 meters to focus solely on 5,000 in the Olympic Games. Therefore, there were many questions when Almgren, with two days to go before the trials, met with the media in Sweden Arena in Paris.
Almgren did not have pleasant answers to give.
He still has pain due to a stress reaction on the back of one shinbone. A running test on Tuesday will determine whether the Stockholm native will start at all the next day.
It's about being able to run a bit in spikes at competition speed and see that it works. It's stupid if you're limping, like, says Almgren ahead of the test.
I feel like I want to have something to achieve if I'm going to be on the starting line. I don't just want to be there and come in 18th place.
Injured
Almgren had an incredible start to the Olympic year and set Swedish records in both the half-mile and the mile. He came to the European Championship in Rome at the beginning of June with gold dreams on 10,000 meters, but finished fourth.
Even heavier was the awakening after the European Championship race. It was then that a stress reaction in the shinbone made itself known on a completely new pain level.
It was about four weeks without running. Then you've had to do what you can to try to increase the running. It works pretty well until it's track and curves and spikes, more demanding angles.
Competed too much
You talk a lot about how your leg feels. But how's your head?
Directly when it happened, you naturally become very disappointed. Then you found out that it wasn't entirely over with the Olympic Games, and then you tried to push aside the doubts. But I would be lying if I said it's been easy. It's been very demanding months, a lot of thoughts, says Almgren.
He sits under a parasol in the scorching Paris heat and takes his time to answer all the questions. The 29-year-old notes with a crooked smile that running legend Mo Farah was 33 years old when he won Olympic gold in Rio – the same age Almgren will be when the Olympic Games in Los Angeles are decided in four years.
A thought that gives him comfort. There are more races and more championships ahead.
At the same time, there is a lesson to be learned for the future.
Long competitions on the track take a lot out of me, and I won't be able to compete as much as I want, even if it's sad. Now it was the race at the Stadium, then Bislett, and the Bauhaus Gala, and after that the European Championship. I competed too much in relation to what my body could handle at the time.
