It was a Swedish athletics night for the history books. Within a few magical minutes, Andreas Almgren ran to a dominant European Championship gold in the 10,000 metres, while his roommate Samuel Pihlström stormed to a sensational silver in the 1,500 metres.
It gave me a lot of energy when I saw Almgren crush everyone else. It just feels really fun to share this moment with him. We've talked about this day, says Pihlström in the mixed zone.
It was emotional when national team captain Kajsa Bergqvist tried to put into words the blue-yellow medal success.
“So powerful”
"There have been tears. It was perhaps the best 15 minutes I have ever had in this job. These 15 minutes with Andreas and Samuel at the same time were so powerful," says a moved Bergqvist.
Almgren outclassed the opposition, running from competitor to competitor. The way he took home the gold was impressive.
"He's so damn good. He could have won this race any way he ran it. Who could beat him today?" says Bergqvist.
While Almgren was cheering the most, a Swedish shocker appeared. In the 1,500 metres, Samuel Pihlström offered a fierce finish and flew forward on the run, all the way to the silver. First to the cheers? Andreas Almgren.
"It was definitely the fastest I've run today, that rush to him," says Almgren.
“We can't talk about that”
Kajsa Bergqvist:
When we saw the yellow jersey with only 180 metres left, we screamed: "Here he comes, here he comes!" We stood, a whole bunch of Swedes, and just screamed. One of the greatest athletics nights, absolutely, there are many good nights, but this is the best in a long time.
The fact that Almgren and Pihlström shared the success makes the evening extra special, as roommates during the championship.
Yes, it was apparently the best room, the national captain laughs.
We've talked a bit in recent days about... we had the races right after each other... imagine how fun it would be if we could be down on the track with medals. But then we thought: "No, we can't talk about this, we can't jinx this," says Almgren.
