52TOKYO LEGACY HALF MARATHON 2025 Yukari Ishizawa specialized in the 800 m, a medium-distance event, from high school to university. She then joined a corporate team without having prior experience in long-distance events or nationwide ekiden events.In 2018, at the age of 30, she tried the 3000 m steeplechase for the first time, with the hope of competing in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. She took 1st place in the Japan Championships in Athletics that very year, for the first time, and was selected to represent Japan in the 2018 Asian Games.In 2020, she took her first victory at the JAAF Cross Country Championships, making steady progress in her athletic career, when the decision was made to postpone the Olympics due to the pandemic.She was unable to train for some time due to the stay-at-home advisory, but nonetheless claimed her second victory in the JAAF Cross Country Championships. However, in the following yearʼs qualifier, she suffered an injury, dashing her chances to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.In the following years she moved her base of operations to her home prefecture of Ibaraki, where she continued competing in events while at the same time bringing up the next generation of athletes. The culmination of her career as a competitor was the Katsuta Marathon, which she ran in for the first time ever in 2023 and took 1st place, and then she retired.Following her retirement, she became a mother, and she is now raising her one-year-old while working full-time in Hitachi Building Systemsʼ IT headquarters.She is also an instructor and guest trainer, passing on her own competition experience to future generations.Daichi Sawano, born in Osaka in 1980, is an associate professor at Nihon Universityʼs College of Sports Sciences. He is the Japanese national record holder in the pole vault (5.83 meters).While in elementary school, he moved to Inzai City, Chiba Prefecture, and in junior high school, at the invitation of the coach of the track and field club, he began pole vaulting.At Narita Senior High School, he took first place in two All Japan High School Sports Track and Field Championships and set the senior high school record (5.40 meters at the time).After enrolling in Nihon University, he won first place in the Japan Championships in Athletics and in the Japan Inter-University Athletics Championships, setting a new student record (5.52 meters at the time).He graduated from university in 2003 and began working for NISHI Athletics Goods Co., Ltd., a manufacturer specializing in athletics goods. In the same year, he set a new Japanese record of 5.75 meters. He followed this by setting a new record of 5.80 meters in 2004 and then 5.83 meters in 2005, three consecutive years of new records. The 5.83 meter record he set in 2005 remains the Japanese record.He competed in three Olympics, in Athens, Beijing, and Rio de Janeiro, and took part for six consecutive years in the World Athletics Championships (seven times in total, including non-consecutive appearances). His successes include 11 victories in the Japan Championships in Athletics.From 2012, he competed for Fujitsu Ltd., and in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he became the first Japanese athlete to place in 64 years, taking 7th place. In 2019, at the age of 39, he competed for the seventh time in the World Athletics Championships in Doha.Although he had become a professor in Nihon Universityʼs College of Sports Sciences in 2016, he kept competing as an athlete, aiming to take part in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. However, in September 2021, he brought his 28-year career to a close with the All Japan Corporate Teams Athletics Championships.Before his retirement as an athlete, he had served as chairperson of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) and the head of the JOCʼs Athlete Committee.He currently directs the training of a wide variety of athletes, not just track and field athletes, as an associate professor in Nihon Universityʼs College of Sports Sciences. He has also been a commentator for the World Athletics Championships, the Diamond League, and other events since 2022.Iʼm Yukari Ishizawa, and Iʼll be a guest runner in Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2025.Formerly, I was a top level athlete, and now Iʼm doing my best every day both at work and raising my child. My body and my lifestyle have changed, and in the marathon, I hope to discover a new joy of running.Letʼs all take advantage of this opportunity to be ourselves and have fun! Iʼm former track and field and pole vaulter Daichi Sawano, and Iʼll be a guest runner in Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2025. I started competing in athletics events because I loved to run. I am very happy to be able to take on the challenge of this half marathon by running, which is where it all began for me.Letʼs run through this great metropolis of Tokyo and experience TOKYO AUTHENTIC together.Yukari IshizawaDaichi SawanoGuest Runners
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