Yuki Kawauchi

Yuki Kawauchi (川内優輝, Kawauchi Yūki; born 5 March 1987) is a Japanese marathon runner. He came to prominence after running the 2011 Tokyo Marathon in 2:08:37, finishing as the first Japanese citizen and third overall. He was known as the "citizen runner" given that he used to work full-time for the government of Saitama Prefecture and trained in his time off with his own expenses without any sponsorship. Kawauchi won the 2018 Boston Marathon. In 2020, he left his job in local government and became a full-time professional runner.

Kawauchi is a frequent competitor, entering many races each year (averaging a marathon per month) ranging in distance from the 1500 m to the 50 km ultramarathon. Among his better performances are victories at the Boston Marathon, the Hokkaido Marathon and the Beppu-Ōita Marathon and top-three finishes at the Tokyo Marathon and Fukuoka Marathon (the two most important marathons in Japan). His personal best for the distance is 2:07:27 (Lake Biwa 2021). Guinness World Records has recognized Kawauchi for becoming the first person to run more than 100 sub-2:20 marathons.

In spite of being an amateur, he has represented Japan internationally at the World Championships in Athletics and the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. He has two younger brothers, Yoshiki and Koki Kawauchi, who are also marathon runners.