Skip to main content

25-Year-Old Kyohei Hosoya Targeting Paris Olympics Marathon


It's a fast new world in Japanese men's marathoning, and one of its exciting new stars comes to it straight out of Kyushu. His name is Kyohei Hosoya (25, Kurosaki Harima). In just his second marathon he ran 2:06:35 for 3rd at February's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, ranking him at all-time Japanese #6. In college he was mostly sidelined with injury, but since joining the corporate leagues his abilities have come into full flower. Now, with the 2024 Paris Olympics in his sights, he's poised to make another great leap forward.

When the race in Lake Biwa began Hosoya was just an unknown 25-year-old, but when he hit the finish line he'd inked his name on the list of top candidates for the Paris Olympics. What once was just a dream is now a realistic goal. "I'd had some vague hopes before about representing Japan," he said, "but now that feeling is burning bright." 

Someone who has been involved with Hosoya's athletic career had often told him, "It's hard to make it to the starting line, but once you do you'll perform." At Lake Biwa Hosoya ran almost perfectly even splits of 3:00/km to come up from the second group and take 3rd. Having debuted in 2:28:47, he cut over 22 minutes off his PB. 

As a student at Chuo Gakuin University, Hosoya said, "I was injured for over half of my four years." Right before he started at Chuo Gakuin he hurt his right knee and couldn't run for over a year. After that he had a series of muscle strains and stress fractures, but even so, when he could run he made his presence felt. His second year he ran the Hakone Ekiden's Eight Stage, and his third and fourth years he handled uphill duties on the legendary Fifth Stage. Each time he took 3rd on his stage. His greatest strength? "Consistency," he said.

Since joining the Kurosaki Harima corporate team Hosoya's injury rate has gone way down. More attention to care and cross-training, and head coach Akinori Shibutani's advice to slow down Hosoya's easy runs have proven effective. Hosoya had previously focused a lot on the pace of his runs, but under Shibutani's guidance he found that adjusting the pace depending on how he was feeling and on the intensity of the upcoming main workouts paid off.

Hosoya is something of a late bloomer when it comes to potential national team representatives. Coach Shibutani likens him to Japan's best-ever championships marathoner, 2012 London Olympics marathon 6th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto. "If he makes it onto a national team, he will perform," said Shibutani. "He's just like Nakamoto, but faster." Taking the road forward one step at a time, the high-potential Hosoya said, "If I'm going to go for a national team then I need to run at least 2:07 again."

Kyohei Hosoya - Born Aug. 31, 1995 in Sakuragawa, Ibaraki. Played soccer from his second year of elementary school until he graduated from junior high school and ran in local ekidens during the winter. Began running seriously at Ibaraki's Suijo H.S., making Sujio's team at the National High School Ekiden Championships. After graduating from Chuo Gakuin University he joined Kurosaki Harima in 2018. Finished 4th on the competitive Fourth Stage at this year's New Year Ekiden national championships. 171 cm, 52 kg.

source article: 
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Anonymous said…
I didn't know of him at all, but was impressed in the race. Japanese male marathoners seem to have been making great progress in their volume, determination, and results. I presume it's another good effect of MGC.

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive