Kazuhiro Maeda ( ja, 前田和浩; born 19 April 1981) is a Japanese long-distance runner. Born in

Shiroishi, Saga is a town located in south-central Saga Prefecture, Japan, in Kishima District. It is known for its vast reclaimed land and tidal flats of the Ariake Sea. As of October 1, 2016, the town has an estimated population of 23,606. On January 1, 2005 ...

, Maeda made his international debut at the

2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Santiago, Chile between 17 and 22 October 2000. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1122 athle ...

, where he ran in the heats of the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

. He won the Karatsu 10-Miler in 2003. He was part of the Japanese men's team for the short race at the

2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on April 1/2, 2006. The races were held at the Umi-no-nakamichi Seaside Park in Fukuoka, Japan, Japan's National Cross Country Course which is the permanent residence of the annual Fukuo ...

. At the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

he ran in the 5000 m and came in fourth place – however, he was the best Asian-born runner in the race as all the medallists were Kenyan emigrants to Qatar and Bahrain. Maeda competed twice at world level for Japan in 2007: he finished seventeenth in the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

at the 2007 World Championships and then came 30th at the

2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships The 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships were held in Udine, Italy on 14 October 2007. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results were given both for the men's race and for the women's race. Medallists Race results ...

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

. He made his

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

debut in 2009 at the

Tokyo Marathon The is an annual marathon sporting event in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. It is a World Athletics Platinum Label marathon and one of the six World Marathon Majors. The latest edition of the race took place on . It is sponsored by Tokyo Metro. H ...

and he secured second place behind Salim Kipsang with a time of 2:11:01 hours. This automatically gained him a place for that year's World Championships team. He finished well off the pace at the 2009 World Championships Marathon, taking 39th place and crossing the line some eight minutes behind Japan's best performer Atsushi Sato. Maeda came third at the 2011

Beppu-Ōita Marathon The is an annual men's marathon race that takes place every February between the cities of Beppu and Ōita on the island of Kyushu in Japan. The race has IAAF Silver Label Road Race status and is a listed course of AIMS (Association of Interna ...

as the first Japanese home on the 60th anniversary of the race and improved his personal best time to 2:10:29 hours. He was the third Japanese runner to finish at the

Fukuoka Marathon The is an IAAF Gold Label international men's marathon race held in Fukuoka, Japan. It was previously known as the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship between 1947 and 2021, when it was announced the race would be discontinued on its ...

later that year, coming sixth overall. A personal best time of 2:08:38 hours came at the 2012

, where his sixth-place finish (the second Japanese home) improved his Olympic selection chances. Ultimately he was not selected for the Olympics and he ran at that year's

Amsterdam Marathon The Amsterdam Marathon (branded TCS Amsterdam Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon (42.195 km) in Amsterdam in the Netherlands since 1975. The road race has a Platinum Label from World Athletics. During the event, there a ...

instead, although he only managed 15th place. A new personal best of 2:08:00 came at the

2013 Tokyo Marathon The 2013 Tokyo Marathon ( ja, 東京マラソン 2013) was the seventh edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo, Japan and was held on Sunday, 24 February. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the first World Marathon Majors event to be hel ...

, where he was the first Japanese with his fourth-place finish.Nakamura, Ken (2013-02-24)
Kimetto clocks course record 2:06:50 at Tokyo Marathon
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-03-02.

Personal bests

- 13:25.24 min (2008) *

- 27:56.92 min (2007) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

- 1:02:10 hrs (2007) *

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

- 2:08:00 hrs (2013)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maeda, Kazuhiro 1981 births Living people People from Saga Prefecture Japanese male long-distance runners Japanese male marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Japan Asian Games competitors for Japan 21st-century Japanese people