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BIOGRAPHYAfter a breakthrough 2022 campaign, where Abbey Caldwell won bronze in the 1500m at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and during the year sliced over three seconds from her 1500m PB and eight seconds from her 800m best, she opted for a late start to the 2022/23 summer season. Abbey made her summer season debut in January 2023 in one of the most anticipated races of the World Cross Country Australian team trials – the women’s 2km event. After tracking Jessica Hull for most of the race, with a few hundred metres remaining, Abbey took the lead, going on to win the race and secure her place in the Australian team in the 4x2km mixed gender relay for the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships to be held in Bathurst. “It’s pretty exciting. I came in here not knowing what was going to happen. It’s the deepest field of distance runners I’ve seen in women’s for a long time and it was really nice to be a part of,” Caldwell said. In Bathurst at the world cross country championships, she anchored the National team to bronze – her first global medal and her second major medal at consecutive championships, following her Commonwealth Games bronze. Abbey’s PBs continued in Europe with 1:58.48 over 800m and 4:20.51 in the mile. In August she was named in the Australian team in the 800m and 1500m for the Budapest World Championships. She becomes just the second Australian women to compete in that double at the world championships. + + + + + Abbey began running when she was five at her local Little Athletics Centre. “I followed my two older brothers around, trying out every sport under the sun but found that the athletics track is where I enjoyed myself the most.” She particularly enjoyed the social aspect of athletics and considers it the reason she continued to be involved in the sport until she began having success. “My performance at the 2021 National championships in the 1500m, at my first open national final resulting in second place behind Linden Hall, was the biggest eye-opener for me. It wasn’t necessarily the placing or the time that was so memorable, it was the point of realisation that I recognised my ability and that I was good enough to mix with the best. It was the turning point mentally for me where I realised I was capable of chasing all the big dreams I’d always had. This will always be the achievement where I unlocked my potential.” In June she was named in the 1500m for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where she performed brilliantly, winning bronze in a world class field – claiming Australia’s second medal in the history of this event. A week later she competed in her fifth 800m of the year and set her fourth PB in 2022 over the distance, clocking 1:59.31 to place fifth in the Monaco Diamond League. Abbey full credits her recent performances to the plan by her coach Gavin Burren. @ August 2023 David.tarbotton@athletics.org.au World Athletics Profile https://worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/abbey-caldwell-14636659
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