Momoko Takahashi (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 高橋萌木子; born 16 November 1988 in Saitama) is a Japanese

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who specialises in

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

ing events. She has represented Japan twice 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 ...

(2007 and 2009) and won

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

medals at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

in both 2006 and 2010. She was the 200 m gold medallist at the

2009 Asian Athletics Championships The 18th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China, China in 2009. Results Men's results Track Field Women's results Track Field Medal table Participating nations * (12) * (1) * ...

. A Japanese junior record holder, she is the country's second fastest ever runner over both

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, behind

Chisato Fukushima is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Japan. She is the Japanese record holder in the women's 100 metres and 200 metres. Career She began her career with appearances in the sprints at the 2005 World Youth Champi ...

. Her bests for the events are 11.32 seconds and 23.15 seconds, respectively. She is a joint holder of the Japanese record in the 4×100 metres relay.

Career

While studying at Saitama Sakae High School, she represented the school in the sprints and in 2005 she won the

at the national high school championships and then the

at the

National Sports Festival of Japan The is the national premier sports event of Japan. It consists of three stages. The skating and ice hockey stage takes place in January, the skiing stage takes place in February, and the main Autumn tournament takes place in September and Octob ...

. In 2006, she established herself with a Japanese junior and high school record of 11.54 seconds for the

. A third place in the event at that year's

Japanese Athletics Championships The is an annual outdoor track and field competition, organized by Japan Association of Athletics Federations. Currently it takes place in June or July. The competition is also for the qualifying trial for the Japanese national team of internatio ...

brought her selection for 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 ...

. She was sixth in the 100 m final and won a

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 ...

with the Japanese women's 4×100 metres relay team, finishing behind China.Momoko Takahashi
JAAF. Retrieved on 2011-05-05. Takahashi claimed her first national title at the 2007 Japanese Championships, reaching the top of the podium in the women's 100 m. She competed at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, ...

and ran the 100 m individual and relay events at

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. ...

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 ...

, although she did not make it past the heats in either competition.Takahashi Momoko
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-05-05. She won a relay medal at the

2007 Asian Athletics Championships The 17th Asian Athletics Championships were held on the Amman International Stadium in Amman, Jordan between 25 July and 29 July 2007. It was moved in the last minute from original host country Lebanon due to the unrest in that country. Countrie ...

that year, as the Japanese were runners-up to Thailand. The 2008 season was not as productive for her, as she was fourth nationally and did not get selected for the

2008 Beijing 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 Nat ...

, but she did improve her 200 m best to 23.48 seconds. The 2009 Japanese Championships showed a resurgence in Takahashi's form: she was second to

's national record run over 200 m, but took the 100 m title after her rival withdrew with an injury. Competing on the world stage for a second time, she ran in the heats of the 100 m, 200 m, and 4×100 m relay of the 2009 World Championships. A medal came 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 ...

(100 m silver) and she ended the year as the continental champion, having won

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 ...

s in the 200 m and relay at the

. These performances were part of a Japanese sweep of the women's sprints, as her teammates Fukushima and Asami Tanno won the 100 m and

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

titles respectively. Takahashi also set her first Japanese national record that year, as she anchored home a 4 × 100 m relay team of Saori Kitakaze, Fukushima and Mayumi Watanabe in a time of 43.58 seconds at the

Osaka Grand Prix The Golden Grand Prix Osaka is an international athletics competition in Osaka, Japan, held in May at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai, since 2018 under its current name. From 1996 to 2010 the event was known as the ''Osaka Grand Prix''. Formerly part o ...

. The 2010 Japanese nationals saw a reversal of the previous year, as Takahashi won the 200 m but was runner-up to Fukushima over 100 m. She was one of the Asia-Pacific team's representatives at the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

, but she finished last in the 200 m, while the Japanese women's relay team that she anchored met a similar fate. She did not manage an individual medal at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...

in November (coming fourth and sixth in the 100 m and 200 m finals), but she helped a Japanese quartet claim a bronze medal in the short relay. Her 2011 began with a new national relay record at the

Seiko Golden Grand Prix The Golden Grand Prix Kawasaki is a track and field competition at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan as part of the World Athletics Continental Tour. It was first organized in 2011 at the Todoroki Athletics Stadium in Kawasaki and sponso ...

, where she, Saori Kitakaze, Fukushima and

Kana Ichikawa is a Japanese sprinter. She competed for the Japanese team in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics; the team placed 15th with a time of 44.25 in Round 1 and did not qualify for the final. International competitions 1Did not ...

knocked nearly two-tenths off the previous time with their run of 43.39 seconds.Nakamura, Ken (2011-05-08)
Pars defeats Murofushi, Japanese women's 4x100m Relay record falls in Kawasaki – IAAF World Challenge
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-05-13.

International competitions

References

External links

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from JAAF {{DEFAULTSORT:Takahashi, Momoko Living people 1988 births Sportspeople from Saitama (city) Japanese female sprinters Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Japan Japan Championships in Athletics winners Fujitsu people Competitors at the 2007 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade