is a Japanese athlete who specialises in

long distance running Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

, including the marathon. Her first major medal came at the

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and " Olympiad". The Universiade is referred ...

, where she won the silver 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 ra ...

race. She changed to focus on

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

and after successful appearances in

ekiden is a long-distance running multi-stage relay race, mostly held on Road running, roads.Otake, Tomoko. ''One for All.'' Dec. 28, 200The Japan Times accessed Feb. 19, 2009. The original Japanese term had nothing to do with a sport or a competiti ...

competitions, she won her first marathon in 2007 – the

Hokkaido Marathon The Hokkaido Marathon held in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan, is one of the prominent marathon races of the year. The staging area as well as both the start and finish lines are in Odori Park starting between Nishi 3-chome and Nishi 4-chome and the fi ...

. Representing an independent

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

club she took part in the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor (commercial), sponsor) is an annual Marathon (sport), marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest mar ...

and the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

in 2009. She competed at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

for the first time that year, and ended the World Championship marathon race in seventh place. She won a silver in the

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 shortcut ...

event at the

2009 East Asian Games ) , Host city = Hong Kong , Teams participating = 9 , Athletes participating = 2,377 , Events = 262 events in 22 sports , Opening ceremony = December 5, 2009 , Closing ceremony = December 13, 2009 , Officially opened by = State Councilor ...

and won her first major domestic marathon race soon after, taking the

Nagoya Marathon The , named until the 2010 race, is an annual marathon race for female runners over the classic distance of 42 km and 195 metres, held in Nagoya, Japan in early March every year. It holds World Athletics Platinum road race status. It i ...

in a time of 2:27:11.

Career

Early career

She started out as a

runner on the track and won the silver medal behind Leigh Daniel at the

1999 Summer Universiade The 1999 Summer Universiade, also known as the XX Summer Universiade, took place in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Venues * Estadi Son Moix — athletics, football, ceremonies * Arena Son Moix — volleyball * Pavelló Son Hugo — swimming, diving ...

. She continued to race over 5000 metres and 10,000 m at Japanese track meetings but she began to make an impact in

instead, competing in the

.Kano Yuri
IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-17. At the Women's Corporate Team Ekiden Championships in 2004, she ran for Shiseido and the team finished third overall. She set the stage two record at the 2005 Yokohama International Ekiden, running the 10 km stretch in 31:25, and took the team gold with Japan. She ran for Japan in the

International Chiba Ekiden The International Chiba Ekiden was an annual team road running competition held in Chiba, Japan in late November. The marathon relay race, or ekiden as it is known in Japan, is one of the prominent annual races of its kind. The competition is spl ...

in 2006, helping her team to third place. She also began competing abroad and took part in the Carlsbad 5000 and finished in sixth place. She closed the year with a fourth-place finish at the Sanyo Half Marathon.

Marathon running

After 2007, Kanō became unusual as a road racing athlete in that she competed for an independent

club (''Second Wind'') instead of being part of the corporate team system prevalent in Japan. This enabled her to focus on performing at major races internationally rather than being placed in races where she would be confident of winning. She began competing over the marathon distance and made her debut at the 2007

Osaka International Ladies Marathon The is an annual marathon road race for women over the classic distance of 42.195 kilometres which is held on the 4th or 5th Sunday of January in the city of Osaka, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Kansai T ...

, where she finished third overall with a time of 2:24:43. She won her first marathon race later that year at the

, leading from the very start in her first victory. The following year she won at the

Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon The Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon is an annual half marathon race which takes place in San Jose, California in the United States. It is part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series of road running Road running is the sport of running on ...

, over half a minute ahead of the rest of the field. She recorded a significant

best of 1:08:57 to win at the 2008

Sapporo Half Marathon The was an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance which took place each July in Sapporo, Japan. First held in 1958, the race began as a full marathon competition for men under the moniker of the Hokkai Times Marathon. Th ...

. In 2009, she was second at the Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon and fifth at the Sapporo Half Marathon. She appeared at two

World Marathon Majors The World Marathon Majors (WMM) (known for sponsorship reasons as the Abbott World Marathon Majors) is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on six major marathon races reco ...

that year: the

and the

. She took a tumble onto the pavement in the former race but managed to recover and finished in ninth place. She finished in eleventh place in London. Kanō was selected to represent Japan at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She finished seventh overall and was Japan's second best performer in the World Championships marathon race after silver medallist

Yoshimi Ozaki is a Japanese long-distance runner, who specializes in the marathon. She won the 2008 Tokyo Women's Marathon in a personal best time of 2:23:30 hours. A year later she took the silver medal in the event at the 2009 World Championships in Athle ...

. She brought an end to her 2009 campaign with a silver medal in the half marathon at the

, finishing just behind Kim Kum-Ok of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. She won her first major marathon in 2010: seeing off competition including

Derartu Tulu Derartu Tulu NL COL ( om, Daraartuu Tulluu, Amharic: ደራርቱ ቱሉ; born 21 March 1972) is an Ethiopian former long-distance runner, who competed in track, cross country running, and road running up to the marathon distance. She won 10,0 ...

, she won the

Nagoya Women's Marathon The , named until the 2010 race, is an annual marathon race for female runners over the classic distance of 42 km and 195 metres, held in Nagoya, Japan in early March every year. It holds World Athletics Platinum road race status. It ...

in 2:27:11, which also doubled as a national championship victory. She was happy with her second ever marathon win, saying: "I have promised myself to challenge for a victory many times before but I was unable to attain my goal previously...this time I was determined to win". A victory at the Sapporo Half Marathon in July came after as she held off a challenge from Azausa Nojiri to keep the lead in the final stages.Nakamura, Ken (2010-07-04
Njui and Kano take Sapporo Half Marathon titles
IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-08-30.

Achievements

*All results regarding marathon, unless stated otherwise

Personal bests

References

External links

*
JAAF profile

Second Wind profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kano, Yuri 1978 births Living people Japanese female long-distance runners Japanese female marathon runners Asian Games competitors for Japan Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Japan World Athletics Championships athletes for Japan Japan Championships in Athletics winners 21st-century Japanese women