{"id":384433,"date":"2026-10-27T20:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T20:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/384433\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T20:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T20:44:10","slug":"6-things-to-know-about-nyc-marathon-debutant-andreas-almgren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/384433\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Things to Know About NYC Marathon Debutant Andreas Almgren"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the elites line up for the New York City Marathon<\/a> on November 1, there will be a mix of former winners, Olympic medalists, and two of the top American marathoners in the country, Conner Mantz<\/a> and Zouhair Talbi.<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking to spoil the party will be Andreas Almgren, a 31-year-old Swedish runner who won the World Half Marathon Championships<\/a> in September. This will be Almgren\u2019s debut at the 26.2-mile distance. Despite his inexperience, he\u2019s a legitimate threat for the podium.<\/p>\n

Almgren has an unconventional background as a pro runner. He was working a full-time job as a data scientist just two years ago. He mostly trains alone and coaches himself. But he\u2019s far from a competitive amateur. He\u2019s sponsored by Nike and has set European records in the road 10K (26:45) and half marathon (58:06).<\/p>\n

Although his strengths have been on the track and shorter road events, Almgren has leaned fully into marathon training<\/a> this fall, logging more than 135 miles a week and tackling long runs over 24 miles. He says he\u2019s well-prepared heading into New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually feeling really confident,\u201d Almgren told Runner\u2019s World ahead of the race. \u201cI might be a bit naive, but the training has gone really well. I\u2019ve done a few really good workouts. But the marathon is a different beast. You don\u2019t really know until you’re reaching that 35K mark if you’re going to make it or not. But I\u2019m feeling really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are six things to know about Almgren ahead of his marathon debut in New York City.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s self-coached <\/p>\n

Almgren first made a splash on the world scene as an 800-meter specialist, earning bronze in the event at the World Junior Championships in 2014. For about a decade, he was coached by Urban Aruhn, but around 2019, Almgren began experimenting with Norwegian threshold training and gradually started to create his own training plans.<\/p>\n

Aruhn is still involved today, but in a more general role. Before a training cycle, Almgren will run his plan by Aruhn, who plays \u201cdevil\u2019s advocate,\u201d trying to poke holes in it or prod Almgren to explain his reasoning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we disagree on something, then we discuss it,\u201d Almgren said. \u201cBut in the end, it\u2019s in my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a data whiz<\/p>\n

Before he was a full-time professional runner, Almgren worked as a risk analyst at a financial company and then as a data scientist for the sports tech software company Svexa<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t until he was sidelined from the 2024 Olympics with a stress fracture that he decided to quit his job and focus on running full-time.<\/p>\n

Now, Almgren\u2014who has a bachelor\u2019s degree in industrial engineering and management and has taken graduate coursework in mathematics, optimization, and systems theory\u2014scratches that itch by rigorously tracking his training metrics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like data,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I collect basically the things that I think are important for every workout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almgren has an Excel spreadsheet where he logs every workout and numerous data points: interval times, heart rate readings, blood lactate measurements, etc. The spreadsheet data goes back to 2012, and Almgren will look back on past sessions to inform his current training.<\/p>\n

\"WorldGaelle Mobuchon\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Almgren averaged 4:26 mile pace at the 2026 World Half Marathon Championships, winning in 58:06.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s always hunting for marginal gains<\/p>\n

Almgren has been preparing for New York with an altitude<\/a> stint in Flagstaff, Arizona, which sits 7,000 feet above sea level. He\u2019s also introduced heat training<\/a> during some of his training blocks, and he looks to sports like cycling and speed skating for cutting-edge training methods.<\/p>\n

About two years ago, Almgren started experimenting with Nomio<\/a>, a broccoli sprout extract shot that is quickly catching on among elite runners. Nomio claims the product can reduce lactate during hard efforts and accelerate recovery.<\/p>\n

Almgren, who is sponsored by the brand, said it helps keep his legs feeling fresh during intervals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like I can train harder than I did before and more and still recover from it,\u201d he said. \u201cRun a little bit faster on my threshold workouts and everything. So I think if you get those tiny margins over and over, day by day, I think that could help quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been considering a marathon since last summer<\/p>\n

Almgren knew he wanted to race a marathon in the fall of 2026, but he didn\u2019t want to sacrifice a full track season before diving into marathon training<\/a>. He chose New York because it gave him time to recover from the track season, and he wanted to find an honest race, compared to a more time-oriented flat course like Spain\u2019s Valencia Marathon in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a time trial, I wouldn\u2019t really know what time to aim for,\u201d Almgren said. \u201cThere\u2019s a big risk that I blow up. If I\u2019m going in Valencia, you have Yomif [Kejelcha] and John Korir taking off in probably sub-two-hour pace, and I\u2019m not going to follow that. So I think that New York is a better race for me with inexperience, just trying to stay in the front pack and see what can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DayKaz Photography\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Almgren (left) celebrates earning bronze in the 10,000 meters at the 2025 World Championships. Jimmy Gressier (right) won gold for France.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not giving up track races<\/p>\n

Oftentimes, pro runners will \u201cmove to the marathon,\u201d implying their days of barreling around the track are over. But Almgren wants to do both. He fully intends to run a track season in 2027, and, looking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, he believes the 10,000 meters could be his best event.<\/p>\n

If Almgren finishes in the top five at New York, he will earn the Olympic standard and pave the path for a spot on the Swedish marathon team for the upcoming Games.<\/p>\n

Only Emil Zatopek has won gold in the 10,000 meters and marathon at the same Olympics.<\/p>\n

He thinks he could win NYC<\/p>\n

Like most elite runners who race the hilly New York course<\/a>, Almgren doesn\u2019t care what his finishing time is on November 1. Instead, he wants to run with the top group as long as he can.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to be in the mindset that I should try to be able to compete for the whole race,\u201d he said. \u201cI don’t want to, let\u2019s say, chicken out at 30K. I want to try to be in it for as long as possible. And if that means that I blow up at 37K, then so be it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I hope that I should be able to be in the mix up until Central Park and hopefully even maybe come out on top. We\u2019ll see. You should never underestimate a marathon. And I don\u2019t have the experience, so I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen, but I\u2019m going to try to be in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find Your Next Running Playlist\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Theo Kahler is the senior news editor at Runner\u2019s World. He\u2019s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master\u2019s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He\u2019s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:37 in the half marathon, and finished 40th at the 2025 New York City Marathon. He enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the elites line up for the New York City Marathon on November 1, there will be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[132053,567,140355,569,83931,568,9,56,63,65,64,67524,140354,108292],"class_list":["post-384433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-collection-new-york-city-marathon","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-523fcb43-1027-41d7-80b3-b5d6d690b046","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-read_time-6","tag-shorttitle-the-unlikely-nyc-marathon-contender","tag-sponsored-false"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}