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 10.03 in the 100m gives him Japan's 6th 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
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Country Japan
SportAthletics
Event(s)100 m, 200 m
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100 m – 10.03 (2020)
200 m – 20.62 (2013)[1]
Medal record
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro4×100 m relay
World Championships
2017 London4×100 m relay
Asian Games
2018 Jakarta-Palembang4 × 100 m relay
East Asian Games
2013 Tianjin200 m
2013 Tianjin4×100 m relay
World Junior Championships
2012 Barcelona4×100 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]

On August 29, 2020, Cambridge won the 100m final with a new personal best of 10.03 at the Athlete Night Games in Fukui.[11]

Japan's top 10 records for men's 100m
RankTime (sec)Wind (m/s)AthleteTeamPlaceDate
19.97+0.8Abdul Hakim Sani BrownNCAA ChampionshipsAustin7 June 2019
29.98+1.8Yoshihide KiryuToyo UniversityFukui9 September 2017
3 10.00+1.9Koji ItoFujitsuBangkok13 December 1998
+0.2Ryota YamagataSeiko HoldingsOsaka24 September 2017
+0.7JapanJakarta26 August 2018
510.02+2.0Nobuharu AsaharaOsaka GasOslo13 July 2001
6 10.03+1.8Shingo SuetsuguTokai UniversityMito5 May 2003
+1.0Asuka CambridgeNikeFukui29 August 2020
8 10.07+1.9Masashi EriguchiWaseda UniversityHiroshima28 June 2009
+1.8Shuhei TadaKwansei Gakuin UniversityFukui9 September 2017
1010.08+1.9Shota IizukaMizunoTotori4 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.
  11. .NHK news. Retrieved on August 28, 2020.
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