Agate Caune ( ; born 7 August 2004) is a Latvian

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete. A multiple national champion, she is also the Latvian national record holder over 3000 metres. She was named the Rising Star of the Year and the female U20 Track and Field Athlete of the Year in 2022.

Career

Early career

Caune started out in 2019 as the Latvian U16 champion in the 1500 metres and 3000 metres events. Gradually, she became the 2020 Latvian U18 champion in the indoor and outdoor 3000 metres. During the following 2021 Latvian U18 Championships, she won gold in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. Additionally, she gained her first national title in the 5000 metres the same year.

2021

From Valmiera, Caune won the silver medal in the

5000m The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Athletics at the Summer Olympics, Olympic Games and the World Championships in At ...

at the

2021 European Athletics U20 Championships The 2021 European Athletics U20 Championships were the 26th edition of the biennial European U20 athletics championships. They were held in Tallinn, Estonia from 15 July to 18 July. The 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships had been held in ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, whilst just 16 years-old. She then went to the

2021 World Athletics U20 Championships The 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships, also known as the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 2002), which was held from 18 to 22 August 2 ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

and finished sixth in the 3000m.

2022

She was the national champion in the 5000 metres for the second time, as well as the Latvian 10,000 metres champion in 2022. Throughout the year, she was declared the Latvian U20 champion for distances such as the: indoor 800 metres, indoor and outdoor 1500 metres, and outdoor 3000 metres. Competing at the 2022 World U20 Championships, held in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

, Colombia, she finished sixth in the 3000m final and ran 15:43.56 to finish fourth in the 5000m. Caune ran 15:12.94 for the 5000m in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, Germany in May 2023.

2023

She remains the champion of the 2023 Latvian 10,000 metres. Currently, she has national titles in the outdoor 1500 metres and indoor 3000 metres. She received further awards at the 2023 Latvian U20 Championships when she won in categories like the indoor 800 metres and the indoor and outdoor 1500 metres. At the 2023 European Indoor Championships held in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

in March 2023, Caune qualified for the final, where she set a new Latvian U20 record for the 3000m, clocking 8:56.88 to finish in eleventh place. In May 2023, Caune won a 5k event at the

Riga Marathon The Riga Marathon (also known as the Rimi Riga Marathon) is an annual road marathon held in Riga, Latvia, since 1991. A flat, single-lap marathon course in the Baltic states, Baltics' largest city. The marathon course has been measured and certif ...

, running it in 15:23 seconds, beating the Jeļena Prokopčuka best previous time from 2009, by seven seconds. Caune then won a gold medal in the 5000 meters at the 2023 European Team Games running 15:15.21 in the Second Division race. On July 16, 2023, in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, Caune made her

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

debut and finished in seventh place in the 3000m distance, running 8:39.78 to break the Latvian national record. In August 2023, Caune won gold medals in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres at the

2023 European Athletics U20 Championships The 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships are the twenty-seventh edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes under the age of twenty. The 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships are organized by European Athlet ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. She set a new championship record of 15:03.38 in the 5000 metres. Caune subsequently went on to the 2023 World Championships in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. She used a bold strategy—heading straight to the front of the pack and not slowing down as the distance between her and her competitors increased—that helped her advance to the next round of the 5000 metres. However, prior to the final event, Caune withdrew due to a pelvic injury that had been present from the past few days. Upon the recommendation of her doctors, she elected to miss the race and not risk worsening her condition if she were to run. Nadia Battocletti and Ludovica Cavalli

2024

She was selected to compete for Latvia at the 2024 Olympic

5000 meters The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stand ...

in Paris. She ran in the first heat Aug. 2. The first eight finishers qualified for the second round. Caune finished 16th in her heat (and 33rd overall) in a time of 15:38.19.

Achievements

Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

* 800 metres — 2:12.76 ( Pärnu 2022) ** 800 metres indoor — 2:10.24 ( Valmiera 2023) *

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

— 4:14.79 ( Valmiera 2023) ** 1500 metres indoor — 4:17.01 ( Valmiera 2023) *

1000 metres The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested. All-time top 25 *h = hand timed *i = indoor performance *A = affected by ...

indoor — 2:46.58 ( Valmiera 2023) *

2000 metres The 2000 metres or 2000-metre run is a track running event where five laps are completed around an outdoor 400 m track, or ten laps around a 200 m indoor track - the distance is 11.68 meters short of 1¼ miles. The global governing body World Ath ...

indoor — 5:55.29 ( Valmiera 2023) *

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

— 8:39.78 (

Chorzów Chorzów ( ; ; german: link=no, Königshütte ; szl, Chorzōw) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population ...

2023) ** 3000 metres indoor — 8:56.88 (

2023) *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

— 15:00.48 (

2023)

International competitions

National titles

* Latvian Championships (5) **

: 2023 **

: 2021, 2022 **

10000 metres 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

: 2022, 2023 * Latvian Indoor Championships (2) **

: 2022, 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caune, Agate 2004 births Living people Latvian female long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 European Games European Games gold medalists for Latvia European Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics