Almgren and Hassan ran slowly to the finish line at Stockholm Stadium side by side, at 29.11 but Almgren was awarded the victory with a hundredth margin. For Almgren, the only Swede who has run 10 kilometers under 27 minutes, the road race was more of a tough training session than a maximum effort.
The Swedish runners had talked about sharing the victory in advance.
”Like a cross-country SM”
We said that if we are free it's fun to go to the finish line together. But it was nothing that we really had discussed in detail how we would do, says Andreas Almgren.
The Finnkampen, which this year celebrates 100, started prematurely on Friday evening with the women's and men's mile race. Both races were arranged in chilly, 10-degree temperature and pouring rain.
It feels like a cross-country SM this, says Almgren.
The conditions made it both slippery and muddy in some places along the track that ran outside the Stadium.
”I survived”
I survived, and what I know now is that I have no fracture anywhere or any sprained foot. It feels like a success today, says the 30-year-old who has been both injury- and illness-stricken during his career.
Veteran David Nilsson could not keep up with Finland's best short Mustafe Muuse but ran in as fourth and gave the blue and yellow men a 15–7 lead before the weekend's continued competitions.
On the women's side, it's also a narrow advantage for Sweden after Friday's premature start of the classic athletics landskamp. Alisa Vainio was in a class of her own in the pouring rain and won at 32.32. But then followed the three Swedish women – Liv Dinis, Eevelina Henriksson and Carolina Johnson – which means a Swedish lead, 12–10, after the first event.
Last year's Finnkampen was won by Finland on both the women's and men's side.
