Yuko Takahashi

0 Yuko Takahashi
Yuko Takahashi at the Triathlon World Cup in Tongyeong, 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	27th August 1991 (age 29)
place of birth	Mitaka
societies
successes
2014	National Vice-Champion Duathlon
2018, 2019	2 × Japanese champion triathlon short distance
status
active

Yuko Takahashi ( 高橋 侑 子 , Japanese た か は し ゆ う こ Takahashi Yūko , English Yuko Takahashi ; born August 27, 1991 in Mitaka , Tokyo Prefecture , English Mitaka City, Tokyo) is a Japanese triathlete .

Career

Takahashi got into triathlon through her father. She completed her first triathlon at the age of eight. At the Junior World Championships in Hamburg in 2007, the then 16-year-old achieved 15th place.

In November 2014 she was Japanese vice-champion in the duathlon behind Ai Ueda .

As a student at Hōsei University in Tokyo, she won the Japanese University Championships four times in a row and in 2016 also the International University Championships. In 2016, Takahashi signed a sponsorship deal with Fujitsu .
In 2017 she went to the United States to train with Paulo Sousa.

She finished the ITU World Triathlon Series in 2017 on 14th place and in 2018 on 12th place. She is the top Japanese woman in the 2019 season.

Takahashi proved her form at the race of the ITU World Triathlon Series in Yokohama on May 18, 2019. There she came out of the water in sixth and established herself in the top group when cycling. In the end, she narrowly missed the podium and only had to admit defeat to the Americans Katie Zaferes , Summer Rappaport and Taylor Spivey . This fourth place was received with enthusiasm by the local audience, especially since the other Japanese women - Yuka Satō, Juri Ide and Nina Kishimoto - landed far behind in 22nd, 26th and 33rd places respectively; Ai Ueda even had to stop the race.

Her participation in the test event on August 15 of the same year for the Olympic Games in Tokyo , however, was disappointing, as she only finished 23rd. Even when she was swimming, she couldn't build up the desired pace quickly enough and fell behind the leading group by almost a minute. She was unable to make up for this deficit on the technically demanding bike course and the running course shortened to 5 km. Nevertheless, Takahashi was confident that the heat acclimatization training will successfully prepare her for the 2020 Olympic participation.

Her idol is the speed skater Nao Kodaira .

Sporting successes (selection)

Web links

• Profile and results of Yuko Takahashi in the ITU database at Triathlon.org , accessed on November 25, 2019 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} 高橋 侑 子 選手 （ト ラ イ ア ス ロ ン） . Mitaka City, accessed November 14, 2019 . 
2. ↑ 高橋 侑 子 （た か は し ゆ う こ） . jiji.com , accessed November 14, 2019 . 
3. ↑ TAKAHASHI YUKO Supporter's CLUB. Retrieved November 13, 2019 (Japanese). 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Athlete Profile: Yuko Takahashi. ITU World Triathlon Series, accessed on November 13, 2019 . 
5. ^ Yuko Takahashi: The Pride Of Asia And Her Super League Experience. Super League Triathlon, January 25, 2019, accessed November 13, 2019 . 
6. ↑ ト ラ イ ア ス ロ ン ・ 高橋 侑 子 選手 と 所属 契約 を 締結. Fujitsu, May 12, 2016, accessed November 17, 2019 (Japanese). 
7. ↑ Kaz Nagatsuka: Yuko Takahashi shows promise at Yokohama triathlon. In: The Japan Times. May 21, 2019, accessed November 13, 2019 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c d} 高橋 侑 子 が ４ 位 と 健 闘. Triathlon Lumina, June 10, 2019, accessed November 17, 2019 (Japanese). 
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} 高橋 侑 子 、 不 本意 な ２３ 位 「ま だ ま だ 課題 が あ る」 ／ ト ラ イ ア ス ロ ン. Sanspo.com, August 15, 2019, accessed November 17, 2019 (Japanese). 
10. ↑ Yuko Takahashi. Super League Triathlon, accessed November 13, 2019 . 
11. ↑ JTU Web Magazine. Japan Triathlon Union, June 3, 2019, accessed November 17, 2019 (Japanese).