Megumi Kinukawa

Who is Megumi Kinukawa?

Megumi Kinukawa is a Japanese long-distance runner. She represented her country at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka and is the Japanese high school and junior record holder for the 10,000 metres.

Born in Takasaki, Gunma, she attended Sendai Ikue High School – an institution renowned for its athletic programme. Kinukawa made her first impact on the national junior circuit in 2006, as she won the junior race at the Fukuoka International Cross Country and was runner-up at the Chiba Cross Country two weeks later. This gained her a debut international selection at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where the sixteen-year-old came in fourteenth place and helped the Japanese girls to a team bronze medal. Turning to the track later that April, she ran a national junior record in the 10,000 metres at the Hyogo Relay Carnival, placing second behind Lucy Wangui with a mark of 31:35.27 minutes – raising her to eleventh on the all-time junior rankings.

Kinukawa ran at the Fukuoka Cross Country in 2007 and became the first high school student to win the senior title at the competition. With the 2007 World Championships in Athletics to be held in Osaka, she opted to focus on her track performances and achieved the "A" standard for the 10,000 m in April. She took third place in the event at the Japanese Athletics Championships and earned her first senior selection as a result. At the World Championships in Osaka that August she came fourteenth in the women's 10,000 m, coming in as the second best Asian finisher behind compatriot Kayoko Fukushi. Kinukawa took to the roads at the end of the year to compete for the Japanese team at the Chiba International Ekiden. She played a key role in Japan's victory at the competition, winning the fourth stage and closing the gap on Catherine Kirui of then-leaders Kenya.