Perseus Karlström is ranked second in the world in 20 kilometers of walking and has not finished worse than four in any competition since the start of 2019. He is thus one of Sweden's big medal, maybe even gold jumps, at the Olympics in Tokyo.

Now he is in Sweden and preparing and before leaving for Japan on July 25, he will also have time for a high-altitude camp in Livigno, Italy.

But it is not the height, but the heat, that is the big snack before the walking competitions at the Olympics.

- There is a lot of focus on a good heat improvement so I am doing that right now and I will continue to do so after my camp in Italy.

Turns up the heat at home

How do you do it?

- You simply expose yourself to heat.

On the one hand, I drove a few days on Bosön in the climate chamber there, at 32 degrees.

I have a treadmill at home with a heating element in the room, so where I push up the heat.

Then also outdoors when it will be hot here, so maybe I will wait an hour or so until it gets warmer.

Otherwise, for example, you can put on a rain jacket and long tights and imitate 30 degrees, even if it is only, for example, 20 outside.

Does the heat suit you compared to the competition?

- It suits me well from the aspect that I am good at preparing for the heat and there are many who are not.

I get an advantage over many because they do not do their homework, says Karlström.

"My dream goal is to be at the top of the podium"

The corona pandemic means that most of Karlström's biggest competitors have only competed once this year and therefore it is difficult to know where they stand.

But the goal for the Swede is gold.

- My dream goal is to be at the top of the podium.

I will do anything to fight to stand there.

Then it's the Olympics and everyone trains a little more, so it will be rock hard.

31-year-old Karlström feels safe with the Olympic Games from a corona point of view and does not believe that it will affect the spread of infection in Japan.

He himself has received his first dose of vaccine, but is still a little worried about getting infected.

- It is something that has grown the closer we have come to the Olympics.

I myself have not been infected.

I have done what I could to stay healthy.

It feels safe that most of the squad will be vaccinated.

The worst thing would be to be infected by a Swede, it would be really bad.

CLIP: Why is it dangerous to run in the heat?

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Why is it dangerous to run in the heat?