Andreas Almgren chose to skip this year's indoor season and instead focus all his attention on the outdoor competitions - a decision that turned out to be successful.
In the Diamond League season opener in Shanghai, he set a new Swedish record in the 3,000 meters.
He also improved the record considerably. The new record time was 7:26.48, which is almost five seconds faster than his previous Swedish record of 7:31.42.
"I've been training for two or three weeks now with a specific type of training. Actually, I was supposed to use today as my first hard training session," Almgren says on SVT's broadcast.
The 30-year-old finished third in the race. The winner was Germany's Mohamed Abdilaahi, ahead of Kenya's Reynold Cheruiyot.
Almgren will come to Stockholm on June 7. There, the running star will run 1,500 meters in front of the home crowd at the Diamond League gala at the Stockholm Stadium.
It will be a real sprint for me, Almgren says and continues:
Normally I need six weeks of specific training to get in really good shape. And that gala is in three weeks and a day, so hopefully I'll peak there.
Discus thrower Daniel Ståhl achieved a season-best. A throw of 66.71 metres was enough for third place.
Fanny Roos reached 19.26 metres in the women's shot put, which was enough for fourth place.
