Asuka Cambridge

Asuka Antonio "Aska" Cambridge (ケンブリッジ 飛鳥, Kenburijji Asuka, born May 31, 1993) is a Japanese track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 metres and 200 metres. His personal best of 10.08 in the 100m gives him Japan's 9th fastest time. He is a two-time East Asian Games gold medallist and a relay bronze medallist at the World Junior Championships in Athletics. His mother is Japanese and his father is Jamaican.[2]

Asuka Cambridge

Cambridge at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1993-05-31) May 31, 1993 Jamaica
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Country	Japan
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	100 m, 200 m
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m – 10.08 (2017) 200 m – 20.62 (2013)[1]
Medal record Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m relay World Championships 2017 London 4×100 m relay Asian Games 2018 Jakarta-Palembang 4 × 100 m relay East Asian Games 2013 Tianjin 200 m 2013 Tianjin 4×100 m relay World Junior Championships 2012 Barcelona 4×100 m relay

In the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Cambridge was part of the 4 × 100 m relay for Japan, which took the silver medal in the final.

Biography

Cambridge was born in Jamaica to a Japanese mother and a Jamaican father. His given name Asuka generally signifies "flying bird" in Japanese language and has also been a city name and period name in Ancient Japan (see Asuka period).[2][3] When he was 2 years old, his family moved from Jamaica to Osaka, Japan. He played football until the age of twelve. When he was fourteen, he moved to Tokyo from Osaka. Cambridge then focused on athletics, running sprinting events for his high school in Tokyo and later at Nihon University, where he studied literature and science. He was fourth in the 100 m at the 2011 National Sports Festival of Japan.[4] At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics he narrowly missed out on the 200 m final,[5] but he excelled in the relay alongside Kazuma Oseto, Akiyuki Hashimoto and Kazuki Kanamori – the team ran an Asian junior record of 39.01 seconds in the heats (the fastest of all the qualifiers) and were just one hundredth slower in the final, where they claimed the bronze medals.[6][7]

In 2013, Cambridge improved his personal best to 10.33 seconds for the 100 m and 20.62 seconds for the 200 m.[4] He won his first international gold medals at the 2013 East Asian Games by beating compatriot Shōta Iizuka in the 200 m and then teaming up with his rival to help secure the 4×100 metres relay title for Japan. Their time of 38.44 seconds was a new East Asian Games record – an improvement of nearly half a second.[8]

On June 25, 2016, Cambridge won the 100 m final at the Japan Championships in 10.16 to qualify for the Rio Olympics.[9]

On August 19, 2016, Cambridge won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay for Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics by setting a new Asian record of 37.60 seconds with teammates Ryōta Yamagata, Yoshihide Kiryū, and Shōta Iizuka.[10]

Japan's top 10 records for men's 100m

Rank	Time (sec)	Wind (m/s)	Athlete	Team	Place	Date
1	9.97	+0.8	Abdul Hakim Sani Brown	NCAA Championships	Austin	7 June 2019
2	9.98	+1.8	Yoshihide Kiryu	Toyo University	Fukui	9 September 2017
3	10.00	+1.9	Koji Ito	Fujitsu	Bangkok	13 December 1998
		+0.2	Ryota Yamagata	Seiko Holdings	Osaka	24 September 2017
		+0.7		Japan	Jakarta	26 August 2018
5	10.02	+2.0	Nobuharu Asahara	Osaka Gas	Oslo	13 July 2001
6	10.03	+1.8	Shingo Suetsugu	Tokai University	Mito	5 May 2003
7	10.07	+1.9	Masashi Eriguchi	Waseda University	Hiroshima	28 June 2009
		+1.8	Shuhei Tada	Kwansei Gakuin University	Fukui	9 September 2017
9	10.08	+1.9	Shota Iizuka	Mizuno	Totori	4 June 2017
		-0.9	Asuka Cambridge	Nike	Osaka	23 June 2017

References

1. "Aska Cambridge IAAF profile". IAAF. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
2. Reid, Paul A. (August 13, 2016). Jamaica spreading its Men's 100m talent across the globe. Jamaica Observer.
3. Nagatsuka, Kaz (June 4, 2016). Cambridge dreaming of big future. Japan Times.
4. Asuka Cambridge. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on December 22, 2013.
5. 2012 World Junior Championships Men's 200 metres semi-final. IAAF. Retrieved on December 22, 2013.
6. 2012 World Junior Championships 4x100 Metres Relay – men. IAAF. Retrieved on December 22, 2013.
7. JAPAN National Junior Records. JAAF. Retrieved on December 22, 2013.
8. Mulkeen, Jon (October 10, 2013). Chinese athletes dominate on home soil at East Asian Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-12-22.
9. Studying leads Cambridge to Rio. The Japan News. Retrieved on June 29, 2016.
10. Mckirdy, Andrew (August 20, 2016). "Bolt completes triple-triple with Jamaica's gold in 4×100 relay; Japan makes history by taking silver". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved August 20, 2016.

External links

• Aska Cambridge at World Athletics
• Aska Cambridge at JAAF (in Japanese)
• Aska Cambridge at the International Olympic Committee
• Aska Cambridge at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Official website
• Aska Cambridge on Twitter
• Aska Cambridge on Facebook
• Aska Cambridge on Instagram