On July 23 the Fujitsu corporate team announced that men's 20 km race walk world record holder and 2019 50 km world champion Yusuke Suzuki, 36, and three-time men's 400 m national champion Julian Walsh, 27, are retiring at the end of the month.
Suzuki competed in the 2012 London Olympics in the 20 km race walk. In 2015 he set a world record of 1:16:36 for 20 km at the National Race Walk Championships in Nomi. At the 2019 Doha World Championships he won the 50 km race walk, the first time a Japanese athlete won gold at an international championships including the Olympics. After that, he suffered setbacks from overtraining and other issues and did not try to make the Tokyo Olympic team in 2021.
After leaving Fujitsu Suzuki will become a coach at Niigata University of Food and Agriculture. "I want to give the next generation of athletes the same kind of support that I received in my time as an athlete," he said.
A member of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2021 Tokyo Olympic teams, Walsh was part of Japan's 4th-place 4x400 m relay team at the 2022 Oregon World Championships, where he also made the semifinals in the individual 400 m. After his retirement Walsh plans to become a pro Keirin bicycle racer.
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translated and edited by Brett Larner
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