Skip to main content

Mountain Runner Ruy Ueda Becomes First Asian to Win Skyrunning World Championships - "I'm Happy to Leave My Name in the History Books"


The Skyrunning World Championships took place July 9th to 11th in Barruera, Spain. Ruy Ueda, a native of Omachi, Nagano, won the overall title, making him the sport's first Asian world champion. 

Ueda placed 1st in the Vertical Kilometer division on the championships' opening day, covering 3.3 km course with 1000 m of elevation in 35:06. That made him the first runner from Asia to win an individual division at the Skyrunning World Championships. Two days later he followed up with a 3rd-place finish in the Sky division, covering the mountainous 42 km course in 4:10:51. Combining his scores from the two races, Ueda was named winner of the overall World Championships title.

In an interview with NBS Ueda was ecstatic, saying, "I'm really happy to leave my name in the Skyrunning history books." As the 2019 Skyrunning World Series champion, Ueda called his win in the Vertical Kilometer division "valuable. Ueda put more focus into the Sky race, but even though the climb portion of the race didn't go well, Ueda said, "It was part of achieving the overall title too, so I had to run up to a certain minimum performance level." 

Ueda has already been named to the Japanese national team for November's Mountain and Trail World Championships in Thailand. "It requires different skills from skyrunning," he said. "I plan to prepare thoroughly so that I'll be in a position to medal."

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
Post a Comment
Read more