Sweden’s dream start at the World Athletics Championships – Karlström takes a medal

A heavy storm delayed the intended start. But in the end, Perseus Karlström was able to set off on his quest for the first Swedish medal during the Athletics World Championships in Budapest.

But shortly before 11:00 a.m., Swedish time, the bunch finally came out of the pits. A high pace was immediately set, but Karlström hung with the lead initially.

But after a couple of kilometres, we saw the first jolt and it was through the Japanese Koki Ikeda that he broke away from the tight pack. Ikeda set a furious pace and held a comfortable lead for large parts of the race.

After half the distance, Karlström had to let go of the duo Caio Bonfim (Brazil) and Salih Korkmaz (Turkey), who took up the pursuit of Ikeda. But when it was time for the intermediate time after 10 kilometers, the Swede was in fourth place, 21 seconds behind leader Ikeda.

– We see that he pulls this bunch. I think he’s getting interested in nibbling on this distance that’s on Ikeda, TV4 pundit Ato Ibanez said after the halfway point of the race.

But the high pace meant that several competitors had problems keeping up with the lead and both Koki Ikeda and Salih Korkmaz had to give up the pursuit of the noblest medals. Instead, the Spaniard Alvaro Martin sailed into the lead.

– There are an awful lot of people who go fast in this race. I counted twelve passing 10 kilometers in 39 minutes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that, Ibanez announced during the broadcast on TV12.

With two kilometers left in the race, Martin led, ten seconds ahead of the chasing Bonfim and Karlström. Thus, it looked like there would be a fight between Bonfim and Karlström over the silver money.

After a very strong sprint, Karlström was finally able to hang on to Bonfim and grab the silver medal behind the victorious Martin, who set the world best of the year.

At the finish, Karlström could then shout out his joy after the redemptive silver. A medal that comes after last year’s double bronze medals at the WC in Eugene, USA.

– He does it when he needs to do it. It’s so nice to see that he can do it, said Ato Ibanez at the finish line.