Kanematsu Yamada

Kanematsu Yamada was born as the son of a salt trader in an area where producing salt from evaporation ponds had a long tradition. When Tomeichi Ohura, from the neighboring city of Utazu, returned from the 1920 Olympics, he inspired the youngsters of the area to take up athletics, in particular long-distance running. After training at the seashore and on the local roads, Yamada started competitive running in 1924. His first major success came in 1927, when he won a cross-country race in the Hanshin region. In the following year, he won the Japanese Championships in the marathon and qualified for the Amsterdam Olympics. In the Olympic race he had a comfortable lead at the 40 km mark when a knee injury that he acquired during training in Berlin flared up, and he had to let three runners pass him, eventually finishing fourth. Nevertheless, his time of 2-35:29 was a Japanese best on an official marathon course at the time. After the Olympics, he took first place in the 400 miles ultra-race from Osaka to Tokyo in 59-29:11. He later coached young runners.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-35:29 (1928).