(born 6 February 1985) is a Japanese

speedskater 　 Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, ...

whose specialty is in the sprinting distance event of 500 metres. At the age of 17 he became the first junior speedskater to skate the 500 metres in less than 35 seconds. Until 9 March 2007 he was the

world record holder In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

with the 34.30 he skated in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

on 19 November 2005. He lost the world record to Lee Kang-seok, who skated 34.25 in Salt Lake City. At the age of 20, he became the 500 metres world champion at the 2005 World Single Distance Championships, leaving behind

Hiroyasu Shimizu is a Japanese speed skater. He has an Olympic gold medal from 1998 in the 500 m, and held the 500 m record (34.32). He married Japanese fashion model Reiko Takagaki is a Japanese model and actress who is represented by the agencies Incent a ...

and

Jeremy Wotherspoon Jeremy Lee Wotherspoon (born October 26, 1976) is a Canadian speed skater, widely recognized as one of the greatest speedskating sprinters of all time. In December 2003, Wotherspoon became the most successful male skater in World Cup history whe ...

. After this achievement he was considered to be one of the favourites for achieving a medal at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. Prior to that 500 metre race, he named three skaters as his toughest competition:

of Canada,

Joey Cheek William Joseph Cheek (born June 22, 1979) is an American former speed skater and inline speed skater. He specialized in the short and middle distances and won Olympic gold in 2006. Currently Cheek is a media entrepreneur. Accomplishments Cheek' ...

of the United States, and

Dmitry Dorofeyev Dmitry Anatolyevich Dorofeyev (russian: Дмитрий Анатольевич Дорофеев, born 13 November 1976) is a speed skater. Dorofeyev won a silver medal in the 500 m at the 2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, o ...

of Russia. Cheek and Dorofeyev won gold and silver, respectively, while Kato finished in sixth place. He was also beaten by his own countryman,

Yūya Oikawa (born 16 January 1981) is a Japanese speed skater. He competed in the 2006 and the 2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, ...

, who was fourth. He represented Japan at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver where he won bronze at men's 500 metres. At the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, he again represented Japan and finished 5th in the 500 m with a combined time over two runs of 69.74 and a fastest single time of 34.77 behind the Mulder brothers (

Michel Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

and

Ronald Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'',#H2, Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; #H1, Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English ''Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised ...

Jan Smeekens Jan Smeekens (born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch former speed skater. He is a 500 m specialist. Smeekens won his first international medal during the 2004 World Junior Single Distance Championships in Moscow where he won the gold medal at the 500 ...

and

Mo Tae-bum Mo Tae-bum (, Hanja: 牟太釩; ; born 15 February 1989) is a South Korean speed skater. He is the 2010 Olympic Champion and the 2012 and 2013 World Champion in 500 m. He started speedskating while in the third grade. Prior to the 2010 Winte ...

. He is a member of the

Nidec Sankyo is a Japanese music box and electrical component manufacturing company and a member of the Nidec, Nidec Group. The company was founded as Sankyo Seiki Manufacturing in 1946; Nidec Corporation became the majority shareholder of the company in 2003. ...

speed skating team.Athlete Profiles - Nidec Sankyo Speed Skating Team
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World record

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

References

External links

Joji Kato at SpeedSkatingStats.comPhotos of Joji Kato
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kato, Joji 1985 births Japanese male speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of Japan Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Speed skaters at the 2003 Asian Winter Games Speed skaters at the 2007 Asian Winter Games Speed skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2003 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Asian Games medalists in speed skating Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan World record setters in speed skating Sportspeople from Yamagata Prefecture Living people World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Japanese people