Momoko Takahashi (*anese: 高橋萌木子; born 16 November 1988 in Saitama) is a *anese track and field athlete who specialises in sprinting events. She has represented *an twice at the World Championships in Athletics (2007 and 2009) and won relay medals at the Asian Games in both 2006 and 2010. She was the 200:m gold medallist at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships.

A *anese junior record holder, she is the country's second fastest ever runner over both 100:metres and 200:metres, behind Chisato *ushima. Her bests for the events are 11.32:seconds and 23.15:seconds, respectively. She is a joint holder of the *anese record in the 4×100 metres relay.

Contents

• 1 Career
• 2 International compe*ions
• 3 References
• 4 External links

Career

While studying at Saitama Sakae High School, she represented the school in the sprints and in 2005 she won the 100:metres at the national high school championships and then the 200 metres at the National Sports Festival of *an. In 2006, she established herself with a *anese junior and high school record of 11.54 seconds for the 100 metres. A third place in the event at that year's *anese Athletics Championships brought her selection for the 2006 Asian Games. She was sixth in the 100:m final and won a silver medal with the *anese women's 4×100 metres relay team, finishing behind China.

Takahashi claimed her first national *le at the 2007 *anese Championships, reaching the top of the podium in the women's 100:m. She competed at the 2007 Summer Universiade and ran the 100:m individual and relay events at Osaka's 2007 World Championships in Athletics, although she did not make it past the heats in either compe*ion. She won a relay medal at the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships that year, as the *anese were runners-up to Thailand. The 2008 season was not as productive for her, as she was fourth nationally and did not get selected for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but she did improve her 200:m best to 23.48:seconds.

The 2009 *anese Championships showed a resurgence in Takahashi's form: she was second to Chisato *ushima's national record run over 200:m, but took the 100:m *le after her rival withdrew with an injury. Competing on the world stage for a second time, she ran in the heats of the 100:m, 200:m, and 4×100:m relay of the 2009 World Championships. A medal came at the 2009 Summer Universiade (100:m silver) and she ended the year as the continental champion, having won gold medals in the 200:m and relay at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships. These performances were part of a *anese sweep of the women's sprints, as her teammates *ushima and Asami Tanno won the 100:m and 400 metres *les respectively. Takahashi also set her first *anese national record that year, as she anc*d home a 4 × 100 m relay team of Saori Kitakaze, *ushima and Mayumi Watanabe in a time of 43.58:seconds at the Osaka Grand Prix.

The 2010 *anese nationals saw a reversal of the previous year, as Takahashi won the 200:m but was runner-up to *ushima over 100:m. She was one of the Asia-Pacific team's representatives at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup, but she finished last in the 200:m, while the *anese women's relay team that she anc*d met a similar fate. She did not manage an individual medal at the 2010 Asian Games in November (coming fourth and sixth in the 100:m and 200:m finals), but she helped a *anese quartet claim a bronze medal in the short relay.

Her 2011 began with a new national relay record at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, where she, Saori Kitakaze, *ushima and Kana Ichikawa knocked nearly two-tenths off the previous time with their run of 43.39:seconds.

International compe*ions

References

External links

• Momoko Takahashi at World Athletics
• Profile from JAAF (in *anese)