Berglund has, like many others, run his long-distance races in shoes that have a sole that is thicker than 25 millimeters. But since July 28, the International Athletics Federation has banned it.
Because that message came with such short notice before the Swedish Championships in Uppsala, it may be that Berglund changes to 1,500 meters.
- It is not at all as aggressive and stressful for the calves. It is when there are many turns in nail shoes that it wears a lot on the calves. I'm not really used to it and probably will not be in a week either, he says.
"It's starting to get boring"How do you see the whole shoe debate?
- I'm starting to get a little tired of it. Last year and last year there was absolutely no talk about it and now it is starting to get a lot. It's starting to get boring, says Berglund and highlights the practical problems with the new rules:
- It is incredibly difficult to measure the shoes. There are things that stand out on the sole that do not belong to the sole and so on. In the rules, it must be a unisex of size 42 that you must measure and pass the limit of 25 millimeters, but the sizes below are a little lower and those above a little higher. It is difficult for the organizers to measure a shoe then, if, for example, there is a runner who has shoe size 44.
The international federation World Athletics is expected to provide clearer information on which shoes are approved and which are not soon.
- I hope that the shoe manufacturers and World Athletics go together and collaborate and come up with a list of how tall all models are. I hope it comes soon.
"Athletics has become a material sport"Berglund calls the new rules unclear and ill-considered.
- Now it will be a discussion and a question of interpretation, which is not good. Neither for us active nor for the audience. If we find it difficult to understand, it is even more difficult for the audience, he says and continues:
- The great thing about athletics has been that it is so simple. That the one who runs first and jumps the highest wins. But then there have been a lot of rules with shoes and then athletics becomes a material sport like it has never been, says 24-year-old Berglund.
As long as the 25 millimeter rule for distances over 800 meters remains, only spiked shoes and a few very light running shoes are allowed.
Until today, the Norwegian federation has made a different interpretation of the new rules, stating that there has been a transition period and that it has therefore been possible to follow the old rules until December this year.
Today, World Athletics then sent out a clarification that the exception only applies to field disciplines and thus not medium and long distance.
CLIP: Good result by Ståhl at team-SM
Javascript is disabled
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Read more about browser support
The browser is not supported
SVT does not support playback in your browser. We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.
Read more about browser support
Daniel Ståhl, Spårvägens FK. Photo: Bildbyrån