Ryuji Miura, Athletics – Life-Altering Encounter with the 3000m Steeplechase

Originally written on 21 Mar 2024

Ryuji Miura, Athletics – Life-Altering Encounter with the 3000m Steeplechase: Finding My Center as an Athlete and a Person

"My life changed when I met the 3000m steeplechase," says Ryuji Miura. At the age of 19, he competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he placed 7th, and in the Budapest 2023 World Championships, where he placed 6th, both times becoming the first Japanese to place in the event. What is the path that the 22-year-old has taken and what does the future hold for the world's top athlete?

Ryuji Miura

Born in Shimane Prefecture in 2002. Men’s 3000m steeplechase Japanese record holder (8:09.91).

After graduating from Rakunan High School and Juntendo University, he will join the SUBARU Track & Field Club in April 2024. In 2021, at the age of 19, he broke the Japanese record for the men’s 3000m steeplechase for the first time in 18 years. Subsequently, he became the first Japanese athlete to place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the Budapest 2023 World Championships. He has also competed and placed in the finals of the annual Diamond League multiple times.

In the JAAF Athletics Awards 2023, he was selected as the “Outstanding Athlete Award” among many athletes. He was also selected as the first male athlete (3rd overall) in the “Best Performance Award” in the Top Athletes category of the JAAF Fan Vote 2023, and is a promising athlete in both name and reality.

Decided to “Jump in” if He could Compete at the National Level

–How did you get started in track and field?

In addition to being recommended by my parents, there was a club team nearby, so I joined it. 3000m steeplechase is an event I started in high school, and I didn’t work on it during my junior year, but because I was doing hurdles and long distance at that time, the club team coach thought I might be suited for it. He saw the potential in me. So I started in high school.

–How did you feel when you were first recommended?

I was like, “What’s that all about?” (laughs) But I was not reluctant to switch. I was very weak at the time. I thought that if I could compete with national-level athletes, I would jump into that discipline.

Read more Move to the website of TOKYO FORWARD 2025 (External link). ©TMG

photographs by Uta Mukuo