Hitomi Niiya

Hitomi Niiya (新谷 仁美) is a Japanese professional long-distance runner who competes in track, cross country running and marathon races.

She formed part of the Japanese junior team at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 2004 to 2006, helping them to team medals each time.

She also won a bronze medal over 5000 metres at the 2005 World Youth Championships.

After winning the junior selection race at the Chiba Cross Country, Niiya made her international debut at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and her nineteenth-place finish helped the Japanese junior women to the team bronze medal.

She took a consecutive victory in Chiba in February 2005, thus returning to the world event the following year.

She improved to thirteenth place and helped the Japanese team to another bronze alongside Akane Wakita and Yurika Nakamura.

The 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Marrakesh provided her the venue for her first international individual medal, as she claimed the bronze in the 3000 metres.

That October, she won the 3000 m at the 2005 National Sports Festival of Japan in Okayama, being the only local athlete to win at the festival.

At the end of that year she won at the inter-high school championships and ran the second fastest time ever for a Japanese high school student in the 5000 metres, taking her title with a time of 15:28.70 minutes.

Niiya repeated both her thirteenth placing and team bronze at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships junior race, but began to move towards ekiden road running competitions that year.

She represented Japan in the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden and just edged past Ethiopia's Ameba Denboba on the final leg to lift Japan into the top three.

After graduating from high school she chose to focus on running full-time, working under coach Yoshio Koide, who trained Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi.

Niiya won the 2007 Tokyo Marathon at the age of eighteen in her debut over the marathon distance.

Her best for the event is 2:30:58 hours.

She has also had success in ekiden relay running, having represented Japan at the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden and helped Toyota Industries to their first team title domestically.

She is the Japanese record holder in the half marathon (1:06:38) set during a win at the Houston Half Marathon.

Niiya attended Kōjōkan Senior High School and began competing in track and field and cross country running while there.

The rebooted Tokyo Marathon in 2007 did not invite any elite level women and Niiya filled the void, entering the race among the thousands of public runners, and won the women's race, recording a time of 2:31:01 hours for her debut over the distance.

In March 2008, she debuted in the half marathon, finishing with a time of 1:11:41 hours to take third place behind Mara Yamauchi and Rie Takayoshi at the Matsue Ladies Half Marathon.

She competed in her second marathon that August but found herself behind Yukari Sahaku (also coached by Koide) and finished in second place at the Hokkaido Marathon.

Her year ended on a high note as she helped Toyota Industries to their first title at the All Japan Corporate Team Women's Ekiden Championships.

Her third marathon came in March 2009 at the Nagoya Marathon – she was leading at 30 km and although she achieved a personal best time of 2:30:58, she slowed in the latter stages and finished eighth.

At the Oda Memorial in April she won the 5000 m with a personal best time of 15:23.27 minutes.

The following year, a third-place finish in Fukuoka gained her a place on the senior team for the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where she finished in 31st place.

She is a two-time silver medallist at the Asian Athletics Championships and has represented Japan three times at the World Athletics Championships (2011, 2013, 2019).

She represents Team Toyota Industries in national competition.

Her 2011 season began with two domestic victories at the Chiba and Fukuoka Cross Country races, winning by large margins in both.

At the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she finished in 26th place, helping Japan to seventh in the women's team rankings.

On the track, she ran a 5000 m best of 15:13.12 minutes in June then claimed the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships silver medal in the event a month later, finishing behind Ethiopian-born Bahraini Tejitu Daba.

She was selected for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and reached the 5000 m final, coming 13th overall.

At the Chiba International Ekiden in November she ran a stage record on the final leg to help Japan to second place behind Kenya.

Niiya competed for Japan at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The Inter-Prefectural Women's Ekiden in January 2012 saw Niiya win the final 10K stage to lift the Chiba team into third place overall.

She was the best-performing Asian-born runner at the 2012 Asian Cross Country Championships, where she finished fourth in the women's race.

She gained the Olympic A standard for the 10,000 m with a world-leading and personal best run of 31:28.26 minutes to win at the Hyogo Relays.

She represented Japan in both the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the 2012 London Olympics.

She set a best of 30:59.19 minutes for ninth place at the 10,000 metres final and ran a best of 15:10.20 minutes in the 5000 metres heats.

She won the 5000 m at both the Japanese National Games and the Japanese Championships that year.

She won the Fukuoka cross country title for a third year running in February 2013.

Niiya competed in the 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow on 11 August 2013.