Saitō is a sports soldier and trains with the Tōsenkyō unit . He lives in Sapporo and trains in Aomori . He started biathlon in 1998, and in 2003 he competed in his first international race in Ridnaun as part of the European Biathlon Cup and finished 69th in a sprint. As the 38th of a sprint in Martell , he won first points in the IBU Cup in 2008 . In Beitostølen , the Japanese competed in the biathlon World Cup for the first time at the start of the 2004/05 season and finished 17th with the relay and shortly afterwards 102nd in a sprint race at Holmenkollen in Oslo . In 2006 he achieved his best result in the highest racing series of international biathlon with a 77th place in a sprint in Kontiolahti . Shortly before, he took part in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin . At the competitions in Cesana San Sicario he reached his second best international placement with 78th place in the individual and was with Tatsumi Kasahara , Hidenori Isa and Kyōji Suga as the last runner of the season 12. At the non-Olympic Biathlon Mixed Relay World Championships 2006 in Pokljuka Shinya occupied with Kanae Meguro , Isa and Ikuyo Tsukidate as the final runner of the mixed relay, 22nd place. In 2007 , the Japanese competed in a world championship in Antholz and finished 90th in the singles and with Tamami Tanaka , Megumi Izumi and Isa again as the final runners of season 20. The Winter Asian Games 2007 in Changchun brought Shinya ninth place in the sprint and 12th place. Place in the pursuit race. With Kasahara, Isa and Yoshiyuki Asari he won the silver medal behind the representation from China with the Japanese relay, in which he was again used as the final runner.
Biathlon World Cup placements
The table shows all placements (depending on the year, including the Olympic Games and World Championships).
1st - 3rd Place: Number of podium placements
Top 10: Number of placements in the top ten (including podium)
Points ranks: Number of placements within the point ranks (including podium and top 10)
Starts: Number of races run in the respective discipline