Mareks Ārents (born 6 August 1986) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n former track and field athlete who specialised in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

. He won the Latvian outdoor national championship 12 times and the national indoor title nine times. He represented Latvia at multiple major championships, including the

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and

2016 Olympic Games The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. He later acted as coach to his compatriot, and 2024 Olympian, Valters Kreišs.

Athletics career

He qualified for

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

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, but did not reach the final, making a best jump of 5.35 metres. At the 2013 European Indoor Championships in

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, Sweden, he jumped 5.50 m, ranking him in 11th place, missing the final by 10 cm. He went on to compete at the

2013 World Athletics Championships The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

in Moscow, but his 5.25 best clearance did not qualify him for the final. He competed at the 2015 World Championships in

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, China where he cleared 5.55 metres. He cleared 5.50 metres to place sixth overall at the

2016 European Athletics Championships The 2016 European Athletics Championships was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between 6 and 10 July 2016. It was the first time the Netherlands hosted the event. Due to 2016 being an Olympic year, there was no racewalking and the marathon competi ...

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, Netherlands, on countback, despite having cleared the same height as the bronze medal winner Robert Renner of Slovenia. He subsequently competed the

in Rio de Janeiro where he cleared 5.45 metres but did not progress to the final. He placed joint-eighth overall at the 2017 European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia with a best height of 5.60 metres.

Post-athletics career

After the conclusion of his athletics career he coached his younger compatriot Valters Kreišs who made his debut at the Olympics at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris.

Competition record

References

* http://www.olimpiade.lv/londona/olimpiska-delegacija/sportisti/vieglatletika/50-mareks-arents

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arents, Mareks 1986 births Athletes from Riga Latvian male pole vaulters Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Latvia World Athletics Championships athletes for Latvia Competitors at the 2013 Summer Universiade