He has been in Mexico for three weeks and will remain there for training and some competitions in North America before returning to Europe in May, where the EC in the Czech Republic will be the first target and the WC in Tokyo in September the big one next year, where the direction is 35 km.
– It has grown over the past year and I knew I needed to change the training group for the next Olympic cycle. There are good training conditions here and now I have been able to collaborate with, among others, two of their absolute best walkers and we are great friends, says Karlström, who during the summer trains around Eskilstuna.
He believes that it is basically impossible to be in Sweden between November and March because it is too cold and slippery, he had to find a new training base for the winter months.
The routes will change from 2026
Mexico is notorious for its crime. Hear how Karlström reasons about the security risks in the player above.
It has also been hammered through a change in terms of distance length from 2026. 20 km will be replaced by a half marathon (21,097.5 meters) and 35 km will be a marathon, 42,195 meters.
– It is good and above all that 35 is longer so that there is a greater difference between the distances. I also think that people get an idea of what we do for times when we have known distances, says Karlström.