Yūki Kawauchi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yūki Kawauchi athletics

Yuki Kawauchi.jpg
Yūki Kawauchi at the 2018 Boston Marathon

nation JapanJapan Japan
birthday 5th March 1987 (age 33)
place of birth Setagaya ,  Japan
size 175 cm
Weight 62 kg
Career
discipline Long distance running
status active
Medal table
Asian Games 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
Asian Games logo Asian Games
bronze Incheon 2014 marathon
last change: April 16, 2018

Yūki Kawauchi ( Japanese 川 内 優 輝 , Kawauchi Yūki ; born March 5, 1987 in Setagaya-ku , Tokyo Prefecture ) is a Japanese long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon distance .

At the beginning of 2011 he gained notoriety in Japan when he qualified in the Tokyo Marathon in 2:08:37 hours as third in the overall standings and best Japanese for participation in the World Athletics Championships in Daegu . He received special media attention because - unlike other Japanese runners of his level - he worked full-time. Typically, top runners in Japan are employed as professionals by company teams. Although Kawauchi only achieves a weekly training quota of 150 kilometers and thus significantly less than the company runners due to his professional activity, he ran the fastest marathon time of a Japanese since 2008 in Tokyo. However, he compensates for the small amount of training with a comparatively extremely high number of competitions. Between November 2009 and May 2014 he competed in 35 marathons, 34 of them under 2:20 hours and seven under 2:10 hours. Kawauchi deliberately does without a trainer and sponsors.

Career

Kawauchi began running in his early school days. Due to an injury, however, he was unable to reach his full potential. So he did not succeed in recommending himself to the first team of the university while studying at Gakushūin University . As a result, he was denied lucrative offers from company teams, and after graduating in 2009, he began to work as an office worker in an evening school in Kasukabe . However, he remained loyal to running.

In November 2009, Kawauchi won the Guam Half Marathon in a track record time of 1:09:12 hours. A month later, Kawauchi finished 13th in the Fukuoka Marathon with a time of 2:17:33 hours. The following year he finished fourth in the Tokyo Marathon in 2:12:36 hours. In early February 2011 he reached ninth place in the Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon in 1:02:40 hours. Only three weeks later he achieved the most important result of his career to date at the Tokyo Marathon. In the race, which the Ethiopian Hailu Mekonnen won in 2:07:35 hours ahead of the Kenyan Paul Biwott (2:08:17 hours), Kawauchi secured third place, and with it, mainly through a strong final phase in the last kilometers Qualification for the World Athletics Championships. He improved his personal best by almost four minutes to 2:08:37 hours.

When Kawauchi returned to work in Kasukabe as usual the day after the marathon, he was surprised by the great media interest. During his breaks he tried to handle the numerous incoming interview requests. The Japanese athletics federation JAAF offered him their support and accepted him into the national B-squad, which guaranteed him an annual grant of 1.5 million yen (approx. 13,000 euros ). At the same time, there was criticism from association circles of the Japanese running professionals, who, despite supposedly better training conditions, have recently not been able to surpass Kawauchi's performance.

In his preparation for the World Athletics Championships, Kawauchi competed in numerous training races , including several 5000-meter runs on the track. In May he ran the first ten kilometers of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon with the prospect of a new personal best in the leading group, before falling after a collision with another runner. He finally finished the competition in 13th place in 1:04:44 hours. In June he again lived up to his reputation of always exhausting himself physically in competition. In a 50-kilometer race in Okinoshima , he led for a long time before collapsing unconscious less than a kilometer from the finish line. He suffered heat stroke as a result of the high temperatures on the day of the event . He recovered quickly and prepared for his planned participation in the Sapporo Half Marathon two weeks later. In the aftermath of his collapse, however, he only achieved a disappointing 63rd place there. He finished his preparation for the World Championships at the end of July with a fourth place in the Shibetsu half marathon and a victory in the 30-kilometer road race in Kushiro.

As usual, Kawauchi took an offensive approach to the marathon race at the World Championships in Daegu. After the first 5 kilometers he was at the front of the field, but soon lost track. By halfway through the race he had dropped to 31st place and was around a minute behind the leaders. By the time he reached the finish line, he was over eight minutes behind the winner Abel Kirui from Kenya. Nevertheless, Kawauchi was able to work his way up to 18th place in 2:16:11 hours. Together with Hiroyuki Horibata (7th place, 2:11:52 hours) and Kentarō Nakamoto (10th place, 2:13:10), he led the Japanese team to second place in the World Cup ranking behind Kenya.

Shortly after the World Championships, Kawauchi ran two more marathon races. At the Osaka Marathon at the end of October he finished fourth in 2:14:31 hours, and at the Fukuoka Marathon at the beginning of December he was third in 2:09:57 hours. Just two weeks later he started the Hofu marathon and finished second in 2:12:33 hours behind the Mongolian Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od .

In early 2012, Kawauchi competed in the Tokyo Marathon in order to improve his best performance and secure the nomination for the Olympic Games in London with a strong result . With 14th place in 2:12:51 hours, however, he clearly missed his goal and was not considered for the Japanese Olympic team. Later in the year he won the Kasumigara Marathon (2:22:38 hours), the Hokkaidō Marathon (2:18:38 hours), the Sydney Marathon (2:11:52 hours) and the Chiba -Marathon (2:17:48 hours). At the Half Marathon World Championships in Kawarna , he finished 21st.

In 2013, Kawauchi took part in eleven marathons. In January he won the Luxor Marathon in a track record time of 2:12:24 hours. In his victory in the Beppu-Ōita marathon , he also set a course record and increased his personal best to 2:08:15 hours. Another improvement of one second to 2:08:14 hours brought him fourth place in the Seoul International Marathon . In the Nagano Marathon , a time of 2:14:27 hours was enough for him to win. He won the Chitose marathon in 2:18:29 hours. At the Gold Coast Marathon in Australia he set the course record of the Kenyan Nicholas Manza Kamakya with 2:10:01 hours . The world championships in Daegu were rather disappointing for him with 18th place in 2:15:35 hours. At the Melbourne Marathon he finished second in 2:11:40 hours and eleventh at the New York City Marathon in 2:12:29 hours. In Fukuoka, he finished third in 2:09:05 hours. Two weeks after Fukuoka, he finished second in Hofu in 2:09:15 hours, making him the first runner on a marathon distance to twice undercut the 2:10 hour mark within 14 days.

In 2014, Kawauchi won the Kumamoto Marathon (2:10:14 hours, course record ), was fourth in the Lake Biwa Marathon and won the Sakura Marathon (2:13:02 hours, course record) and the Tokushima Marathon (2: 15:25 hours, course record). At the Hamburg Marathon he was ninth in 2:09:36 hours. This was the seventh time that he ran a marathon in under 2:10 hours and replaced Toshinari Takaoka as the Japanese record holder in these statistics.

After he didn't stay under 2:10 hours in any of his marathon appearances in 2015, things went better for Kawauchi again in 2016. He achieved his best performances of the year as second in the Gold Coast Marathon in 2:09:01 hours and third in the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:09:11 hours. In 2017 he represented his country at the World Championships in London and finished ninth as the best Japanese .

On January 1, 2018, Kawauchi stayed at the Marshfield Marathon in freezing temperatures as well as running alone in front for the 76th time under 2:20 hours, which he exceeded the old record of the American Doug Kurtis. For this achievement he received a certificate from Guinness World Records .

On April 16, Kawauchi ran the Boston Marathon . With temperatures just above freezing and rainy and windy conditions, he ensured a comparatively high pace early on in the coldest Boston marathon in 30 years. Even when the Kenyan Geoffrey Kirui pulled away from the field in the course of the race, Kawauchi was able to maintain a good position in contrast to many of the favorites who later dropped out such as Galen Rupp , Tamirat Tola or Lelisa Desisa and initially broke away from a group of three, which until then had been second fought. Towards the end of the race, however, defending champion Kirui, who had meanwhile led by 1:30 minutes, also weakened and was overtaken by Kawauchi on the last two kilometers. He was able to keep up his pace and finally became the first Japanese Boston winner in 31 years in 2:15:58 hours with over two minutes ahead of Kirui . As a result of his victory in Boston, Kawauchi announced that he was aiming for a career as a professional runner.

On June 2nd, he finished fourth in the Stockholm Marathon .

At the Vancouver Marathon 2019 he crossed the finish line as the winner. This was his fifth marathon in 2019.

Top performances

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Yuki Kawauchi - the running phenomenon from the Far East . Planet Running. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  2. ^ A b The Wall Street Journal : Yuki Kawauchi, Citizen Marathon Runner (English), June 14, 2011
  3. ↑ Japan Running News: "The Rocky of the Marathon World" - Saitama Governor Praises Kawauchi (English), February 28, 2011
  4. ↑ a b Japan Running News: What to Do When the Dream Comes True? Federation Officials Push Management Role as Kawauchi Fever Sweeps Japan (English), March 3, 2011
  5. ↑ a b Hamburg Marathon Results - Kawauchi Runs Historic Seventh Sub-2: 10 ( English ) Japan Running News. May 4, 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ arukikata.co.jp: に 『The 18th Annual PIC International Road Races (第 18 回 PIC 国際 ロ ー ド レ ー ス)』 が 開 催 さ れ ま し た！ (Japanese), November 8, 2011
  7. ↑ Japan Running News: Mekonnen Wins Tokyo Marathon, Amateur Kawauchi 3rd in 2:08:37 . February 27, 2011
  8. ↑ Daily Sports Online: “川 内 激 走” 陸 連 に 衝 撃… 実 業 団 組 チ ク リ ( Memento of March 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Japanese), February 27, 2011
  9. ↑ Japan Running News: Track Training Kawauchi-Style . May 5, 2011
  10. ↑ Japan Running News: Mathathi, Kuroda Win Gifu Half Marathon, Kawauchi 13th . May 15, 2011
  11. ↑ Japan Running News: Kawauchi Taken to Hospital After Suffering Heat Stroke Near End of 50 km Ultra . June 19, 2011
  12. ↑ Yomiuri Shimbun : マ ラ ソ ン ・ 川 内 、 全 快 宣言！ ７ ・ ３ 札幌 国際 ハ ー フ 出 る ( Memento from June 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Japanese), June 21, 2011
  13. ↑ Japan Running News: Kiplagat and Njui Win Hot and Humid Sapporo International Half Marathon . July 3, 2011
  14. ↑ Japan Running News: World Championships Marathoners Kawauchi and Ito 4th and 7th at Shibetsu Half Marathon . July 25, 2011
  15. ↑ Japan Running News: Kawauchi Wins Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km . July 21, 2011
  16. ↑ Japan Running News: Bat-Ochir and Kawauchi Duel at Hofu Yomiuri Marathon . December 18, 2011
  17. ↑ 川 内 丸 刈 り 「さ ら し 者 に」 同僚 ビ ッ ク リ ( Japanese ) Nikkan Sports. February 27, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  18. ↑ Nakamoto 5th in Moscow World Championships Marathon ( English ) Japan Running News. August 17, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  19. ↑ Bat Ochir Wins Hofu in 2:09:00, Kawauchi Scores Second Sub-2: 10 in 14 Days for New World Record ( English ) Japan Running News. December 15, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  20. ↑ The Kawauchi Counter ( English ) Japan Running News. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  21. ↑ Kawauchi Breaks Sub-2: 20 World Record in Sub-Zero Temperatures. In: japanrunningnews.blogspot.co.uk. January 1, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Japanese runner clocks 76th sub-2: 20 marathon in frigid temps. In: olympics.nbcsports.com. January 2, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Japanese runner recognized by Guinness for most sub-2: 20 marathons. In: english.kyodonews.net. March 25, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Desiree Linden and Yuki Kawauchi Pull Off Upsets in the Rainy Boston Marathon. In: nytimes.com. April 16, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
  25. ^ Desi Linden becomes the first US woman to win the Boston Marathon since 1985. In: theguardian.com. April 16, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
  26. ↑ The winner of the Boston Marathon now becomes a professional. Retrieved April 20, 2018 .
  27. ↑ official site: results Stockholm 2018. Retrieved on July 5, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kawauchi, Yūki
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 川 内 優 輝 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese marathon runner
DATE OF BIRTH March 5th 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH Setagaya-ku , Tokyo Prefecture