Yukiko Akaba

YUKIKO AKABA
JAPAN

BIRTHDATE:
18 October 1979

PERSONAL BEST:
2:25:40

WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:

Worlds: 2009- 31st 2:37:43

ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Osaka: 2009- 2nd 2:25:40, 2010- dnf

CAREER NOTES:

An experienced 5000m and 10,000m runner, Akaba
made the move up to the marathon last year with an
impressive debut at the Osaka Ladies marathon.
She finished second in 2:25:40 and qualified for
Japan’s World Championships team. Things didn’t
go so well in Berlin, however. She suffered from dehydration
and finished 31st in the German capital in
2:37:43. She had also had a right foot injury earlier
that month.

Her swift debut wasn’t a complete surprise for
Akaba had run some impressive half marathons
in Japan in the previous 12 months. In 2008 she
reduced her PB by more than three minutes to win
the Corporate Challenge in Yokohama in 68:11. Six
months later she was 10th at the World Half Marathon
Championships in Rio.

Last year she ran 68:50 to win in Sendai but was only
26th at the World Half Marathon Championships in
Birmingham.

She competed at both 5000m and 10,000m at the
2008 Olympic Games, going out in the heat of the
shorter event and finishing 20th in the 10,000m final.
She set PBs at both events that year: 15:06.07 for
5000m, and 31:15.34 for 10,000m.

She was third over 10,000m at the 2001 World
University Games.

She returned to the Osaka Ladies Marathon in January
this year but failed to finish due to a left knee
injury picked up just two weeks before the race.
She ran aggressively until 26km then dropped back
before pulling out at 39km.

She was training for London in Christchurch, New
Zealand, before returning to Japan for the Matsue
half marathon where she battled strong headwinds
to finish second in 71:09.

PERSONAL NOTES:

She races for Hokuren on the northern island of
Hokkaido and is coached by her husband Shuhei
Akaba.

Her daughter, Yuuna, was born in August 2006 and
Akaba returned to training that autumn. She is the
only world class runner in Japan who is a mother.

She won her prefectural high school championships
at 3000m and went to Josai University where she was
the quickest in her stage of the national collegiate
women’s ekiden championships and won the national
collegiate 5000m title.

After university she almost dropped out of the sport
because of injuries. She married her Josai teammate
Shuhei Asari in March 2004 and was going to
take over the family farm in Tochigi until her coach,
Shuichi Morita, suggested she continue to run with
her husband as coach.

UPCOMING MARATHONS:

Virgin London Marathon 2010