Andreas Almgren won the New York City Marathon on November 1 in 2:06:01, in his first marathon, becoming the first Swede to win the race while setting the third-fastest debut in history. Here's how this self-coached data scientist made history.
Almgren's arrival at the front of the marathon may have seemed like a surprise, but for him it was the culmination of years of meticulous, honest, and intentional work. Here's how Almgren shocked the world at NYC.
But First, The Race
Almgren and company passed the halfway mark in a fast but reasonable 1:04:01. The majority of the front group was still intact and would stay together for most of the race. What happened in the second half was just astonishing, though.
His second half was about two minutes faster. Fifteen men were still together at 35 kilometers, but when he attacked, none could match it. Almgren covered the last 7.2 km in 20:27 and the final 2.19 km in 6:01, pulling away from Crippa with a little over half a mile left. A strikingly fast last push that left the best marathoners in the world behind. His heart rate averaged 159 bpm over the full marathon, showing composure, confidence, and surely preparation.
How He Trains
Before he ran full time, Almgren worked as a risk analyst at a financial company and later as a data scientist at a sports tech software company. A season of his career was plagued with injury, and after nearly quitting the sport, he left the job to run full time and coach himself. He has kept the data nerd hat on while planning every training session.
Almgren was the first athlete to use Nomio, and he started in 2024, before the shot went on sale in January 2025. He worked it into every hard session of training for two years leading into NYC. He has credited it for part of a 2025 season that included European records at 5000 meters, 10 km on the road and the half marathon.
In January, Almgren told Nomio about three goals for the year, which were the European 10,000 meters title, the World Half Marathon title and a win in New York. He took the European title in August. In September, he won the World Half Marathon in Copenhagen in 58:06, a European record, and New York followed in November in his first marathon. The big three, all checked off his list.
Why Nomio
Nomio is a 60 ml shot made from 80 percent organic broccoli sprouts, 15 percent lemon juice and 5 percent sugar. Its active ingredient is a group of compounds called isothiocyanates, which helps Nomio to lower lactate at a given intensity. For a runner who lives by his lactate numbers and wants to avoid injury, that means he can run his threshold sessions a little faster every time and still stay on the right side of the line
Race Fueling
Almgren is also sponsored by Maurten, and his marathon fueling plan came from breath testing on his long runs and double threshold days. He took a Gel 100 two minutes before the start, a bottle of Drink Mix 320 every 5 kilometers through 36, and a Gel 100 Caf 100 at 20 kilometers. He had no stomach problems, and he used the Maurten Bicarb System on his long runs and planned to use it in New York.
Here's to Almgren, and to all the athletes wanting to get just a little bit better every day.
