Swedish runner clocks two European records in the same race
Sweden's Andreas Almgren made history at the Valencia 10K, smashing both European road records for 10K and 5K
Photo by:
Fredrik Karlsson/Flickr
On Sunday at the 2025 10K Valencia Ibercaja by Kiprun in Spain, Swedish distance runner Andreas Almgren had a day to remember. Not only did he take the win, but he also smashed the European 10K record with an incredible time of 26:53. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, his final 5K split was so quick, it broke the European 5K road record in the process.
Almgren’s time erased the previous European 10K mark of 27:07, set by France’s Etienne Daguinos just two months ago in Lille, France. If Almgren’s record is ratified, he will become the only Swedish male to actively hold a European running record.
The race came down to the final kilometre as Almgren dropped a jaw-dropping 2:28/km split to break the tape ahead of Switzerland’s Dominic Lobalu (26:54) and Kenya’s Vincent Langat (26:55). Almgren ran the first 5K of the race in 13:43, then picked up the pace with a 13:10 second half. That final 5K wasn’t just fast—it broke the existing European road 5K record of 13:12, set by none other than Lobalu.
Lobalu’s second-place time of 26:54 also dipped under the previous European record.
At 29, Almgren already owns every Swedish men’s distance record from 1,500m to the half marathon. But despite his resume, he has still yet to run for his country at an Olympics. Almgren missed qualifying for Tokyo 2020 and was sidelined from Paris 2024 due to injury.
In the women’s race, Kenya’s Hellen Ekalale took top honours with a blazing 29:30. Ethiopia’s Girmawit Gebru (29:34) and Foyten Tesfay (29:42) rounded out the podium.
The Valencia race, often called the fastest 10K in the world, lived up to its reputation with 13,046 runners toeing the line.
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