is a Japanese male

racewalking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

athlete who competes in the

20 kilometres race walk The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic athletics event that is competed by both men and women. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight un ...

. He holds a personal best of 1:18:53 hours. He represented his nation at the 2016 Summer Olympics and was the 2014 World Junior champion. He made his first impact at the

2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships The 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships was the 15th edition of the international athletics competition for Asian under-20 athletes, organised by the Asian Athletics Association. It took place from 9 to 12 June at the Sugathadasa Stadium in ...

, taking a silver, then won the

2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1995 or later) which was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on 22–27 July 2014. A total of 44 ...

in a championship record of 39:27.19 minutes. He also took a silver in the junior race behind Gao Wenkui at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup in China. Moving into the senior ranks he took bronze medals at the 2015

Asian Race Walking Championships The Asian Race Walking Championships is an annual race walking competition for athletes representing countries from Asia, organized by the Asian Athletics Association (AAA). It was established in 2006 and has featured races for senior men (20&nbs ...

and the

2015 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 143 , Athletes participating = 12,885 , Events = 272 in 21 sports , Opening ceremony = , Closing ceremony = , Officially opened by = Park Geun-hye , Athlete's Oath = Kim Seong-yeon and Kim Kuk-young , Judge's Oath = ...

He started 2016 with a win at the Asian Race Walking Championships. He was selected to represent

Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics Japan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1912, Japanese athletes had appeared at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for two editions; the ...

and placed seventh in the final.

Personal bests

10,000 metres race walk The 10,000 metres race walk is a racewalking event. The event is competed as a track race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight until the raised leg passes it. 10,000 meters is 6.21 mil ...

– 39:18.04 min (2015) * 10 kilometres race walk – 39:45 min (2014) *

– 1:18:53 hrs (2016) All information from All-Athletics.Daisuke Matsunaga
All-Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-08-14.

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsunaga, Daisuke Living people 1995 births Japanese male racewalkers Olympic athletes of Japan Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade 21st-century Japanese people