Shigeyuki Aikyo

Shigeyuki Aikyo (Japanese: 愛敬 重之; born 29 January 1964) is a Japanese former track and field athlete who specialised in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He was the gold medallist at the 1986 Asian Games and the 1985 Asian Athletics Championships. He was also a two-time Universiade bronze medallist and a two-time national champion.

Shigeyuki Aikyo
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Japan
Asian Games
1986 Seoul3000 m s'chase
Asian Championships
1985 Jakarta3000 m s'chase

Aikyo was Asia's only steeplechase competitor at the World Championships in Athletics in both 1983 and 1987. He competed for Asia at the 1985 IAAF World Cup. His personal best of 8:31.27 minutes is a Japanese junior national record.

Career

Aikyo emerged as a teenage athlete in the 1983 season. Still studying at university, he was eligible for the Universiade that year and managed to finish in third place behind Peter Daenens and Farley Gerber.[1] He was chosen to represent Japan at the inaugural 1983 World Championships in Athletics. The only Asian entrant in the event, he ran a time of 8:31.27 minutes to progress beyond the heat stage. This time was a new Japanese junior (under-20) record – one which, as of 2015, still stands in the record books.[2] He was a little slower in the semi-finals and was eliminated in eleventh place.[3]

He did not qualify for the 1984 Summer Olympics and his next international outings were in 1985. At the 1985 Asian Athletics Championships he became the third Japanese man to lift the steeplechase title, finishing half a second ahead of Taiwan's defending champion Hwang Wen-Cheng to match the feat of Takaharu Koyama and Masanari Shintaku.[4] This earned him the honour of being Asia's representative in the event at the 1985 IAAF World Cup. At the event in Canberra, he finished well down the field, coming last in eighth place with a time of 8:55.35 minutes (well short of his best).[5] The following year he won his first national title at the Japan Championships in Athletics.[6] He became a double reigning continental champion through a gold medal-winning performance at the 1986 Asian Games. His time of 8:36.98 minutes was an Asian Games record. He made it a sixth consecutive win for Japan in that event, which dated back to Taketsugu Saruwatari's 1966 win.[7]

Aikyo had his second and final win at the Japan Championships in 1987.[6] He ran at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, where again he was the only Asian entrant in the men's steeplechase. He fell short of his 1983 form and ended the competition in tenth in the heats with a run of 8:41.41 minutes.[3] He also competed at the 1987 Universiade that year. In a close sprint finish, Aikyo was overhauled by Valeriy Vandyak in the final metres and ultimately ended up with the bronze medal behind the Soviet runner and Cuba's Juan Ramón Conde, repeating his finish of four years earlier.[8]

His last major appearance was a fourth-place finish at the 1991 Asian Athletics Championships, beaten to a medal by Syria's Saleh Mohammed Habib.[9] In his later career he moved off the track and into long-distance road running competitions. He was fourth at the 1992 Himeji Castle 10-Miler, but had little success elsewhere.[10]

National titles

International competitions
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1983 Universiade Edmonton, Canada 3rd 3000 m s'chase 8:33.44
World Championships Helsinki, Finland 11th (semis) 3000 m s'chase 8:33.29
1985 Asian Championships Jakarta, Indonesia 1st 3000 m s'chase 8:46.96
World Cup Canberra, Australia 8th 3000 m s'chase 8:55.35
1986 Asian Games Seoul, South Korea 1st 3000 m s'chase 8:36.98 GR
1987 Universiade Zagreb, Yugoslavia 3rd 3000 m s'chase 8:34.23
World Championships Rome, Italy 10th (heats) 3000 m s'chase 8:41.41
1991 Asian Championships Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 4th 3000 m s'chase 8:35.10

References
  1. World Student Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  2. Japan National Junior Records. Japan Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  3. Shigeyuki Aikyo. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  4. Asian Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  5. Track and Field Results World Cup At Canberra, Australia, Oct. 5. UPI (1985-10-05). Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  6. Japanese Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  7. Asian Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  8. US Basketball Team Advances in University Games. Chicago Tribune (1987-07-17). Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  9. Results. The Straits Times (1991-10-20), p. 30]. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
  10. Shigeyuki Aikyo. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2015-11-15.
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