(born 2 September 1986) is a Japanese

racewalker 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 asses ...

. She was seventh at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

and is a two-time Asian Race Walking Champion. In 2009, she set the Japanese record for the

20 kilometres race walk The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic Games, Olympic athletics (sport), 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 supp ...

event. She also won the silver medal at the

2009 Summer Universiade The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provin ...

Career

Born in

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city is ...

, Hyogo, Fuchise was originally a runner but switched to race walking after injury. She first enjoyed success at college level when she won the 10,000 metres track walk at the 2005 Japanese Inter-Collegiate Championships. She made her global debut on national turf at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

, held in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. Fuchise finished in 27th place in the women's 20 km walk, somewhat behind compatriot

Mayumi Kawasaki is a Japanese race walker from Ibaraki Prefecture. She represented her country in the 20 km race walk at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Her personal best time for the 20 km race walk is 1:28:49 hours. A three-time Asian Rac ...

who was tenth. The following year she took part in the

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 although Kawasaki won the title, Fuchise reached the podium to win the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

and also achieved the Olympic "A" standard time. She did not compete at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

that year, missing qualification after a poor tactical race at the 2008 Japanese National Championship, which was also an Olympic qualifying event. Fuchise proved herself as the country's top walker at the national 20 km walk championships in January 2009 – she won the event and also broke the Japanese record for the distance with her time of 1:28:03. She stepped up at continental level also, winning the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the 2009 Asian Race Walking Championships, ahead of compatriot Kumi Otoshi. She took to the

IAAF World Race Walking Challenge The World Athletics Challenge - Race Walking (formerly ''IAAF Race Walking Challenge'') is a racewalking series organised by World Athletics. Athletes accumulate points in specific race walk meetings during the season. Performances in 10 kilomet ...

circuit and made the top eight at the

Coppa Città di Sesto San Giovanni The Coppa Città di Sesto San Giovanni is an annual racewalking competition that takes place on 1 May in Sesto San Giovanni in Italy. It is an elite level event which features a men's and a women's race in the 20 kilometres race walk. Organised b ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In July that year she attended the

where she won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the walk behind

Olga Mikhaylova Olga Mikhaylova (born December 7, 1986) is a race walker from Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is ...

(who broke the Games record). Having qualified through her national win, she competed at the

. She finished seventh overall in the women's race – the second best performance by an Asian walker after bronze medallist Liu Hong of China. She won the 2010 Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi City in March, taking her second continental title in a time of 1:29:35. Later that year she placed 24th at the

2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 15 and 16 May 2010 in the streets of Chihuahua, Mexico.Fuchise Masumi
IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-22. At the 2011 All-Japan Race Walking Championships she was runner-up to Kumi Otoshi, and she was the fastest Japanese finisher at the event in Nomi the following year.Krishnan, Ram. Murali (2012-03-12)
China clinch Asian Race Walking titles in Nomi
IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-22.

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuchise, Masumi 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Hyōgo Prefecture Japanese female racewalkers Olympic female racewalkers Olympic athletes of Japan Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade World Athletics Championships athletes for Japan Japan Championships in Athletics winners 21st-century Japanese women