Ryoko Kizaki ( ja, 木崎良子; born 21 June 1985) is a Japanese long-distance runner who competes in marathon and

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 ...

races. She won the 2011 Yokohama Women's Marathon in a personal best time of 2:26:32 hours. She is a three-time participant at the

IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biennial international half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It ...

and a two-time medallist 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 ...

Career

Born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, Kizaki attended the city's Miyazu High School before moving on to further study at

Bukkyo University is a private university in Kita-ku, Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The school's predecessor was founded in 1912, and it was chartered as a junior college in 1949. Bukkyo means Buddhism in Japanese, and the university's philosophy is based on ...

.木﨑良子　Ryouko Kizaki
. Japanese Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved on 2011-11-20. While there, she competed for Japan at the

: she was the

silver medallist at the 2005 event and won a second silver at the 2007 edition, where she set a personal best of 32:55.11 minutes 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 ...

. She finished nineteenth at the 2006 World Road Running Championships, helping the Japanese team win the bronze medal in the team competition. In 2008, she graduated from university and joined the

Daihatsu , commonly known as Daihatsu, is a Japanese automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers. The company's headquarters are located in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Historically, Daihatsu was ...

corporate running team. The following year she came seventh in both the All-Japan Corporate Half Marathon Championships and the 10,000 m at the Japanese Athletics Championships. She went on to place thirteenth at the

2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom on 11 October 2009. It was the final event of the International Association of Athletics Federations' 2009 World Athletics Series. Organisation The city of B ...

, although the Japanese women's team of Kizaki,

Yurika Nakamura (born 1 April 1986 in Fukuchiyama) is a Japanese long-distance runner. Nakamura grew up in the Hyōgo Prefecture. She finished seventh at the 2006 World Road Running Championships, helping the Japanese team win the bronze medal in the team co ...

and Remi Nakazato were beaten out of the team medals by Russia. Kizaki made her debut over the marathon distance (42.195 km) at the

Osaka 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 ...

in January 2010. She finished in sixth place with a time of 2:27:34 hours, being the third Japanese to cross the line. At the Japanese track championships she was runner-up to

Kayoko Fukushi is a Japanese long-distance runner, who specializes in the 5000, 10,000 metres and marathon. Fukushi represented Japan at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. She was the bronze medallist in the marathon at the 2013 World Championships in ...

in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 m events. As a result, she was chosen to represent Japan in the shorter event at the 2010 Asian Games in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, where she took tenth place. She was also selected for the

2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Nanning, China on 16 October 2010. The competition took place on the city streets, beginning and ending at Wuxiang Square, with a total prize purse of US$245,000 at stake. The Kenyan ...

for a third time and had her best finish, coming in tenth place to take the team bronze for Japan with

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 ...

and Azusa Nojiri. In January 2011, she helped Kyoto to win the Inter-Prefectural Women's Ekiden and was fifth at the Osaka Marathon. The Yokohama Women's Marathon the following November saw her top the podium for the first time in the event. In spite of hot conditions and poor pacing, she ran a personal best of 2:26:32 hours and defeated her more favoured compatriot Yoshimi Ozaki. She won the first leg of the 2012 Inter-Prefectural Ekiden which opened a lead for the Osaka team to take the women's title. Her run in Yokohama gained her a spot for the

2012 Olympic Marathon 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length Le ...

, where she came sixteenth overall. Kizaki improved her best by three minutes at 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 March 2013, running a time of 2:23:34 hours to win the race and another international selection.Kizaki clinches World Championships berth with Nagoya victory as Noguchi returns
IAAF (2013-03-10). Retrieved on 2013-03-17.

Personal bests

* 5000 metres - 15:35.12 min (2009) *

- 32:16.40 min (2010) *

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 ...

- 1:10:16 hrs (2009) * Marathon - 2:23:34 hrs (2013)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kizaki, Ryoko 1985 births Living people Japanese female long-distance runners Japanese female marathon runners Sportspeople from Kyoto Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Japan Olympic female marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade Bukkyo University alumni 20th-century Japanese women 21st-century Japanese women