For Andreas Almgren, the problem is not motivation. It is logistics. One of Sweden’s leading medal hopes ahead of EM has had a small but very practical part of his preparation shut down at Stockholms stadion, where cycling is simply not allowed.
That matters more than it might sound. Almgren, 31, set a Europarekord in the 5000 meter at Stockholms stadion in 2025, and the track has clearly been an important part of his build-up. But now his cycle intervals there are stopped, and he has had to look around Stockholm for other places to train.
Rules, traffic and training reality
The reason is straightforward. Stadion rules prohibit bicycles and scooters, and Almgren said the restriction is clearly posted inside the venue. In his view, the issue is not just formal policy but basic safety. At the speeds he uses, he said, having a bike on the track would be a “livsfara,” especially with so many recreational runners and other visitors around.
His point is easy to understand. Almgren described trying to do 400-meter repeats under 60 seconds while a run-club group takes up five lanes with 70 people. In that kind of environment, the issue is not only inconvenience; it is whether a high-level training session can happen at all. His answer was no.
That leaves him in a slightly awkward place heading into EM. At the beginning of 2026, Almgren started planning for Saturday’s 10,000 meter race, and during the summer he intensified his EM preparation. He remains very much in the mix as a major Swedish medal contender, but his training has had to become more flexible than ideal.
“Klart det hade varit skönare att vara där,” Almgren said, and that feels like the point. This is not a dramatic setback, but it is a reminder that elite preparation is often shaped by small constraints. A top runner can control effort, pacing and race plan; he cannot always control where the empty lanes are.
Still, the larger picture has not changed. Almgren is preparing to race for gold, and he has made clear that he will only be satisfied if he executes the kind of race he believes he is capable of. If someone else is better on the day, he can live with that. What he cannot do is waste time pretending the training setup is better than it is.
So the story here is less about a crisis than about adaptation. Almgren has an important championship ahead, a reputation built partly at Stockholms stadion and a training routine that now needs a workaround. For a medal contender, that is never ideal. It is, however, the kind of obstacle that tells you something about the reality of elite sport: sometimes the hardest part is simply finding a place to run.
