Yuka first took up triathlon when she was just nine years old with her mother’s encouragement. After graduating at Nihonbashi Jogakkan High School she has been coached by Seijiro Iijima at the Triathlon Team KENS based in Yamanashi (and also in Tokyo) Japan.
Competing in ITU events since 2007, Yuka has had a number of podium finishes and successful races including gold medals at the 2015 Tongyeong ITU Triathlon World Cup and 2015 Osaka ASTC Sprint Triathlon Asian Cup.
In Singapore in 2010 Yuka was the first gold medal winner of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. After her successful seasons in the Junior and Under 23 Categories she also triumphed at 2010 Sendai Bay ITU Triathlon Asian Cup and 2010 Amakusa ITU Triathlon Asian Cup in the Elite category. Over the past years she has became one of the well-known young Elite athletes with consistent high placed finishes on the ITU circuit.
Yuka was chosen to represent Japanese young athletes at the final presentation of bids for 2020 Summer Olympic Games where ultimately Tokyo won the place of host country on 7th September 2013. In 2014 Yuka grabbed her first career Japan Triathlon National Championships title at Odaiba. She finished the 2015 ITU World Triathlon Series ranked 30th overall.
Yuka was selected to represent Japan at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games where she placed 15th. Her next goal is to win gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Recent Highlights
- 8th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Edmonton;
- 13th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Leeds;
- 14th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Stockholm;
- 15th place at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games;
- 18th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Montréal; and
- 28th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Hamburg.
