Miyuki Uehara

Miyuki Uehara (Japanese: 上原 美幸; born November 22, 1995) is a Japanese female long-distance runner who competes in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres.

Miyuki Uehara

Uehara leading the 5000 m final at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1995-11-22) November 22, 1995 Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Height	1.54 m (5 ft 1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight	39 kg (86 lb)[1]
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	5000 metres, 10,000 metres
Coached by	Sachiko Yamashita[2]
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	1500 m – 4:19.71 (2012) 3000 m – 9:06.91 (2012) 5000 m – 15:21.40 (2015) 10,000 m – 31:38.80 (2016) 10 km – 34:16 (2016)[3]

Born in Kagoshima, she attended high school there and after graduation became a professional corporate runner with Dai-ichi Life. She made her first progress at senior national level in 2015, coming seventh at the Japanese National Games, then took fifth over 5000 m at the 2016 Japan Championships in Athletics.[4]

As a junior athlete, she made her breakthrough at the Asian Cross Country Championships, leading the Japanese in the individual and team events for two junior gold medals.[5] Later that year, she placed eighth on the track in the 3000 metres at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She was on Japan's fourth-placed junior team at the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. In 2015, she improved her track bests to 15:21.40 minutes for the 5000 m and 32:16.66 minutes for the 10,000 m.[6]

Under the guidance of coach Sachiko Yamashita (a former world medallist in the marathon), she gained selection for Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics and, after front-running her heat, she made it to the Olympic 5000 m final – only the second Japanese woman to achieve that feat.[2]