Photo: Erik van Leeuwen, attribution: Erik van Leeuwen (bron: Wikipedia). / GFDL (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
For years, running under ten seconds in the 100 metres was treated in Japan as something close to a national impossibility. Yoshihide Kiryū ended that in 2017 with a 9.98. What matters to me is not the number but what it exposed: the barrier was made of belief as much as biology. Other Japanese sprinters went under ten seconds soon afterward, and I doubt that is a coincidence — he opened the door. What makes it heavier is how public his wait was. Hyped from his high school days at Rakunan and through his years at Toyo University, he spent seasons visibly failing to produce the run everyone demanded of him. Being the first one through, with all of that watching, is a different category of pressure. A kid from Hikone in Shiga changed what Japanese sprinting believes about itself.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Yoshihide Kiryū
- Name (Japanese)
- 桐生祥秀
- Born
- December 15, 1995 (age 30)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Boar
- Origin
- Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
- Height
- 175 cm
- Occupation
- athletics competitor / sprinter
2. Background
- High school
- Rakunan Junior and Senior High School
- University
- Toyo University
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Yoshihide Kiryū born?
Born December 15, 1995 (age 30).
Where is Yoshihide Kiryū from?
Yoshihide Kiryū is from Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
What does Yoshihide Kiryū do?
Yoshihide Kiryū works as athletics competitor, sprinter.
How tall is Yoshihide Kiryū?
Yoshihide Kiryū is 175 cm.
Athletics competitor — see all → · Sprinter — see all → · More people from Japan →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-07-27
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.