Skip to main content

Yuta Koga Aiming for Gold Medal in Olympic Debut



Two months out from his Olympic debut in the Paris Olympic Games in the men's 20 km race walk, Yuta Koga talked to media during a practice session in Naruto on June 10 about his hopes for his first Olympics. A native of Fukuoka, Koga, 24, belongs to the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. At the 2023 Budapest World Championships he was the top Japanese placer at 12th. In February this year he chopped almost a minute off his PB to finish 3rd in 1:17:47 and secure his place on the Paris team.

"I'd been shooting for the Olympics for a long time, so when I made it I was half happy and half just relieved," he said. "Now I've got more of a sense of responsibility and awareness. At this point I'm in the base phase of what you'd call the training pyramid. The pace of my workouts isn't that fast, but I'm going long to build up leg strength and endurance, and then we'll add speed to that. I want to aim high, set high goals, and work toward achieving them. My goal is a medal. A gold one."

Koga is the first athlete based in Tokushima prefecture to be named to the Paris Olympic team. The men's 20 km race walk in Paris will take place August 1.

source articles:

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...
Post a Comment
Read more

3 Athletes Provisionally Suspended After Positive Drug Tests at Asian Games (updated)

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. Update:  On Oct. 3 a third athlete, kurash wrestler Yash Kumar Chauhan  of India, was provisionally suspended after an in-competition test detected the steroid metandienone, the metabolic modulator GW1516, and the stimulant mephentermine in his system. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more