Swedish distance runner Andreas Almgren has had an unbelievable 2025 season, and on Sunday on the Valencia Half Marathon in Spain, he completed one thing that has by no means been executed earlier than by a non-African-born runner—breaking 59 minutes for a half-marathon.
The 30-year-old completed fourth behind a trio of Africans in 58:41, setting a brand new European document for the gap. Almgren obliterated the previous mark of 59:13 by 32 seconds, set by Switzerland’s Julien Wanders in 2019 on the RAK Half Marathon within the UAE.
To place Almgren’s time in perspective, he averaged 2:47 per kilometre for 21.1K, which is equal to a velocity of 21.5 km/h.
For many years, East African-born athletes have dominated the all-time lists in each the half-marathon and marathon. Even with Almgren’s record-breaking efficiency, he nonetheless positioned fourth, and his time solely cracks the highest 50 on the World Athletics all-time listing (although he stays the primary athlete born exterior Africa to run below 59 minutes).
This isn’t Almgren’s first European document. The 30-year-old additionally owns the European 10K document, which he set earlier this yr on the Valencia 10K. There have to be one thing particular concerning the Spanish coastal metropolis.
Récord de Europa + 5 récords nacionales en el #21KValencia:
🇪🇺 🇸🇪Andreas Almgren 58:41
🇧🇮 Rodrigue Kwizera 58:39
🇿🇦 Adriaan Wildschutt 59:13
🇸🇮 Klara Lukann 1:08:04
🇫🇷 Alessia Zarbo 1:08:20¡Congratulations!https://t.co/0yPizjrnvC
— Medio Maratón Valencia (@MedioMaratonVLC) October 27, 2025
This newest document comes 5 weeks after Almgren received his nation’s first-ever medal within the males’s 10,000m at a World Athletics Championships, taking bronze behind France’s Jimmy Gressier and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who, sarcastically, received Sunday’s Valencia Half in 58:01.
In an interview final month with Sweden’s SVT Sport, Almgren alluded to him having a potential future within the marathon…and based mostly on the success he’s had on the roads up to now, that future appears very shiny.
Swedish runner clocks two European information in the identical race
