Yuka Suzuki

Yuka Suzuki is a Japanese long-distance runner. In 2019, she won the gold medals in the women's half marathon at the Summer Universiade held in Naples, Italy. The youngest participant dominated the Marathon Grand Championship in October 2023, guaranteeing her selection for Olympic Games in Paris, in a personal best time of 2:24:09 which she then subsequently beat in 2024 Paris Olympics by 7 seconds despite the hilly course. She is good at running uphills.

Biography

Suzuki was born in Nakasen, Akita Prefecture on September 14, 1999, the eldest daughter of educator Shigeki Suzuki and his wife Yasuko. At the age of three she completed a 3-kilometer run without stopping. Suzuki also played basketball as a teenager in her home prefecture of Akita which is famous for its Hoosier Hysteria-like state of basketball fanaticism. After graduating from Omagari High School, she entered Daito Bunka University and gradually became a standout runner. Suzuki was the marathon record holder for Japanese university students, with a time of 2:25:02 achieved on 13 March 2022 at the Nagoya Women's Marathon - her very first marathon.

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