Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Fujimi, Nagano, Japan | 1 March 1991||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.58 m (5 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Track cycling | ||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Fuko Umekawa (梅川風子, Umekawa Fuko, born 1 March 1991) is a Japanese track cyclist. [1] She is also active in Japan as a keirin cyclist. [2] See the following images of her on this keirin website from Japan: [3]
Fuko Umekawa grew up in the prefecture Nagano. After high school graduation, she joined the speedskating team of the Yamanashi Gakuin University. During her career as a speedskater, she won the 500m race at the All Japan Student Speedskating Championships.
In 2016, she quit speedskating and decided to continue her career as a keirin athlete. She took this decision, since she did not want to throw away her athletic assets, her powerful thighs. [4] She was admitted to the class 112 at the Keirin Academy of the Japanese Keirin Association (JKA), graduated in 2017 as the third best rookie and was awarded with the Golden Cap. Since then, she participates in competitions of the professional Girls Keirin League.
From July 2017 to December 2023, she won 200 of the 315 races she participated. Her victory coefficient is 63.5%. Until November 2023 she won an overall price money of 61 million Yen. [5]
In 2018, she won the Girls Grand Prix Trial. In 2019, she was the winner of the Girls Fresh Queen. In the following year, she won the Nagoya Stage Artemis Award (Girls Keirin Collection).
She is a member of the national track cycling team of Japan since July 2020. [6] On February 26, 2023 she won her first medal in an international competition at the UCI Track Cycling Nations Cup in Jakarta. Her personal bests are 10.643 seconds in 200m flying and 34.927 in 500m time trial.
She won the Keirin Festival Women Championship in Kokura in November 2023 [7] and placed second at the Girls Keirin Grand Prix on December 29, 2023. She placed fifth in the keirin race at the 2024 UCI Track World Championships in Copenhagen. Fuko Umekawa is 5'2 (158 cm) tall and weighs about 133 lbs (60 kilos). Her thighs measured 24.5 inches in 2017 and have even gained substantial muscle mass and size since then (see footnote 3).
Keirin – literally "racing cycle" – is a form of motor-paced cycle racing in which track cyclists sprint for victory following a speed-controlled start behind a motorized or non-motorized pacer. It was developed in Japan around 1948 for gambling purposes and became an official event at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez is a Cuban racing cyclist.
Simona Krupeckaitė is a Lithuanian former professional track cyclist. She is the 2009 500 m Time Trial World Champion and World Record holder at 33.296s, and the 2010 Keirin World Champion. She also won the 2009, 2010 and 2016 Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year award. In 2010 Krupeckaitė reached one more world record. This time she achieved 10.793 s record at Flying 200 m time trial event. She retired from competition after the conclusion of the 2021 UCI Track Champions League in December of that year.
Sandie Clair is a French professional racing cyclist and bobsledder. She won her first title in 2005 in the national junior sprint championship. It qualified her for the European junior championship in Fiorenzuola, where she won the sprint and rode the keirin and 500m time trial. She came third in the junior world 500m championship a month later.
Kaarle McCulloch is an Australian former professional track cyclist and four time World Champion in the team sprint. She also won three golds at the Commonwealth Games and an Olympic bronze medal. She qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and rode in two events, the Women's Keirin where she came ninth, and the Women's Sprint where she came thirteenth.
Rebecca Angharad James is a Welsh former professional racing cyclist specialising in track cycling. James was the 2013 world sprint and keirin champion. She is a 2016 Rio Olympics double silver medalist.
Kristina Vogel is a former German track cyclist. During her career, she won two gold medals and a bronze at the Olympic Games, and became an eleven-time UCI World Champion. She was paralysed following a crash in June 2018.
Sarah Lee Wai Sze, BBS, MH is a former Hong Kong professional track cyclist.
Annette Edmondson is an Australian former cyclist who competed on the track with Cycling Australia's High Performance Unit (HPU). She also competed on the road for the Wiggle High5 team between 2015 and 2018.
Stephanie Morton, is a retired Australian track cyclist who participated in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. She has won national and international cycling titles, and was Felicity Johnson's tandem pilot at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a gold medal.
Kayono Maeda is a Japanese track cyclist, born in Kikuchi.
Dannielle Jade "Danni" Khan is an English racing cyclist, who currently rides for British amateur team Saint Piran WRT. She won the sprint and 500m TT events at the Juniors world championships in 2013, as well as the silver medal in the Keirin.
Katy Marchant, is an elite British track cyclist who specialises in the sprint disciplines. She won gold as part of the Great Britain women's sprint team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, and was a European champion in the 500 metre time trial in 2024.
Yūka Kobayashi comes from Tosu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. She is a professional track cyclist.
Anastasia Sergeyevna Voynova is a Russian professional track cyclist. She won the bronze medal in the 500 m time trial event at the 2014 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. At the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, she won a silver medal in the team sprint and a gold in the 500 m time trial. At the 2015 UEC European Track Championships, Voinova broke the 500 m time trial world record in 32.794 seconds.
Elis Ligtlee is a Dutch track cyclist. She represented her nation at the 2014 and 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. She won the gold medal in the keirin race at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Following her Olympic victory, Ligtlee was officially inducted to the Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
Shanne Braspennincx is a Dutch track cyclist. She competed at the 2014 and 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. She won the gold medal in the keirin race at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Daria Mikhailovna Shmeleva is a Russian professional track cyclist. She rode at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships along with Anastasia Voynova and won silver medal in the team sprint event.
Mandy Marquardt is an American female Sprint track cyclist, representing the United States and Team Novo Nordisk, the world's first-all diabetes professional cycling team. Marquardt was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 16. Marquardt is an 27-time U.S. National Champion, 4-time U.S. National Record Holder in the Standing 500m Time Trial, Standing 1 km Time Trial, Team Sprint (2-rider) and Team Sprint (3-rider).
Riyu Ohta is a Japanese track cyclist representing Team Bridgestone Cycling at the professional level and the Japanese national cycling team. She is also active in Japan as a keirin cyclist.