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

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...