Tsubasa Kitatsuru
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Tsubasa Kitatsuru |
| Born | 26 April 1985 Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 85 kg (187 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Track |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Sprinter |
| Amateur team | |
| - | Japan Professional Cycling Union |
| Professional team | |
| 2012 | Cyclo Channel Tokyo |
Medal record | |
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Tsubasa Kitatsuru (北津留 翼, Kitatsuru Tsubasa; born April 26, 1985 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka) is a Japanese professional track cyclist.[1] He has collected five Asian Championships and two Asian Games medals to his career hardware in men's sprint, and later represented Japan at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Kitatsuru currently races for the Japan Professional Cycling Union.
Emerging as one of Japan's most successful sprinters in track cycling, Kitatsuru sought sporting headlines at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, where he defeated South Korea's Choi Lae-Seon in the decided with a best time of 10.882 seconds, making him the fifth Japanese rider in the Games' history to take home the men's sprint gold.[2][3]
Kitatsuru qualified for his first Japanese squad, as a 23-year-old, in the men's sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by receiving one of the team's four available berths based on UCI's selection process from the Track World Rankings. Kitatsuru lost his round-of-sixteen match-up against France's Mickaël Bourgain, and finished second in his repechage heat behind Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang, thus eliminating him from the tournament.[4] Earlier in the morning session, Kitatsuru grabbed a fourteenth seed with a time of 10.391.[5]
At the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Kitatsuru missed his title defense to settle only for the silver medal in men' sprint, after losing out to host nation China's Zhang Lei on a two-race final match.[6]
Career highlights
[edit | edit source]- 2003
- 1st place, gold medalist(s) UCI Junior Track World Championships (Keirin), Moscow (RUS)
- 1st place, gold medalist(s) UCI Junior Track World Championships (Sprint), Moscow (RUS)
- 2004
- 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Asian Championships (Sprint), Yokkaichi, Mie (JPN)
- 2005
- 1st place, gold medalist(s) Asian Championships (Sprint), Ludhiana (IND)
- 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Asian Championships (Keirin), Ludhiana (IND)
- 2006
- 1st place, gold medalist(s) Asian Championships (Sprint), Kuala Lumpur (MAS)
- 1st place, gold medalist(s) Asian Games (Sprint), Doha (QAT)
- 2007
- 1st place, gold medalist(s) Asian Championships (Sprint), Kuala Lumpur (MAS)
- 23rd UCI World Championships (Sprint), Palma de Mallorca (ESP)
- 2008
- 14th Olympic Games (Sprint), Beijing (CHN)
- 2010
- 2011
- 1st place, gold medalist(s) Asian Championships (Sprint), Nakhon Ratchasima (THA)
- 13th UCI World Championships (Sprint), Apeldoorn (NED)
References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- NBC 2008 Olympics profile
- Tsubasa Kitatsuru at Cycling Archives (archive)Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 1985 births
- Living people
- Japanese male cyclists
- Japanese track cyclists
- Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Cyclists at the 2006 Asian Games
- Cyclists at the 2010 Asian Games
- Asian Games gold medalists in cycling
- Asian Games silver medalists in cycling
- Olympic cyclists for Japan
- Sportspeople from Kitakyushu
- Asian Games gold medalists for Japan
- Asian Games cyclists for Japan
- Asian Games silver medalists for Japan
- Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games
- Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games