Yuki Joseph Nakajima

Yuki Joseph Nakajima
Personal information
NationalityJapanese
Born (2002-03-30) 30 March 2002
Sport
SportAthletics
Event
400 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal bests

Yuki Joseph Nakajima (中島 佑気 ジョセフ, Nakajima Yuki Joseph; born 30 March 2002) is a Japanese sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres.

He competed in the 400 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, where he qualified for the semi-final.[2]

He competed at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, in Tokyo, Japan, running a personal best and Japanese national record 44.44 seconds in his heat before qualifying for the 400 metres final, placing sixth overall.[3] He also ran at the championships in the men's 4 x 400 metres relay.[4]

Life and career

Early life and education

Yuki Joseph Nakajima was born in Tokyo on 30 March 2002, to a Nigerian father and a Japanese mother.[5] He began athletics in elementary school, and was a high school running prodigy and a junior champion. After attending Tachikawa Municipal Tachikawa Daiichi Junior High School and Josai University Josai High School, he plans to graduate from Toyo University in 2024.[5][6][7]

Running career

During his third year at university, Nakajima was picked for the 400m in the 2022 World Athletics Championships, where he set an Asian record of 2 minutes 59.51 seconds and finished fourth, his best result to date.[8] In May of the same year, he finished fourth at the 2024 IAAF World Relay Championships (now known as the World Athletics Relays) in the Bahamas.

In 2023, Nakajima participated in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where he missed the final by 0.1 seconds. The same year, he started his training under American athlete Quincy Watts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and signed to Fujitsu's track and field team.

In the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Nakajima competed in two events: the men's 400 metres and 4 × 400 metres relay. In the men's 400 metres, he finished sixth in the third heat with a time of 45.37 seconds, failing to place in the top three and forcing a repechage. In the relay, he set a new Japanese record of 2 minutes 59.48 seconds and advanced to the final. Although he finished sixth in the final, he set an Asian record of 2 minutes 58.33 seconds.

At the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, he set a new Japanese record of 44.44 seconds, beating the previous record of 44.77 seconds by a wide margin. He advanced to the finals and started off in eighth place out of eight runners, but eventually overtook two runners to finish in sixth place. This was the highest ever finish for a Japanese athlete in the men's 400 metres, surpassing Takano Susumu's seventh place finish at the 1991 IAAF World Championships.[9]

Achievements

In 2025, Nakajima became the first Japanese man to advance to the finals in the men's 400 metres for the first time in 34 years, beating the record previously held by Takano Susumu.[6]

Representing  Japan
Year Competition Venue Position Result Notes
2024 Summer Olympics Paris, France 6th 2:59.48 Mens 400 x 4 Relay

References

  1. ^ Yuki Joseph Nakajima at World Athletics
  2. ^ "Summary - 400 Metres Men - Round 1" (PDF). World Athletics. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  3. ^ "World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025". World Athletics. 14 September 2025. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  4. ^ "World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025". World Athletics. 13 September 2025. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  5. ^ a b Byford, Sam (19 September 2025). "How Yuki Joseph Nakajima turned failures into breakout success at Tokyo worlds". The Japan Times. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b "中島 佑気ジョセフ：チームJAPAN". 日本陸上競技連盟公式サイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  7. ^ "TOYOから世界へ挑戦 東洋大学とパリ大会｜東洋大学公式サイト". www.toyo.ac.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  8. ^ "「44秒台前半は出せる」メダリスト集う"虎の穴"で修行中…陸上400m「32年ぶり五輪決勝」狙う192cmの大器・中島佑気ジョセフ（22歳）とは何者か？（和田悟志）". Number Web - ナンバー (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  9. ^ https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250919/k10014926831000.html
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