# Another Japanese sprinter quits national team to return to keirin

*By Simon | November 12, 2024*

![Another Japanese sprinter quits national team to return to keirin](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/umekawa-e1731419730326.jpg)

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![](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/umekawa-e1731419730326.webp)

## 󠀁[Another Japanese sprinter quits national team to return to keirin](https://globalkeirin.com/2024/11/another-japanese-sprinter-quits-national-team-to-return-to-keirin/)󠁿

12 November 2024

World championship finalist Fuko Umekawa has announced her retirement from
Japan’s national track programme, citing both exhaustion and financial
pressures.

Writing [on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DBaFKs_z574/) following her
fifth-place finish in Ballerup, the 33-year old declared she was ‘not satisfied
with it at all’. So today’s
[statement](https://keirin.kdreams.jp/team-rakuten-kdreams/column/fu-column063/)
, posted on the website of Team Rakuten K Dreams, has come as quite the
surprise.

Instead, she will focus on keirin racing in her home country, following her
teammate [Riyu Ohta](https://www.instagram.com/p/C_aq3zMyL-3/) through the exit.

‘There are many reasons to retire from competition,’ she writes (via online
translation). ‘If I were to mention them one by one, I would lose track of time,
but one of the reasons for retiring is the feeling that I have run out of
energy, that I can no longer take on this life-destroying stage.

‘I felt like I was sponsoring myself by riding, winning, and earning money in
keirin. Taking on (UCI) competition reduces your opportunities to ride in
keirin, and reduces your income.

‘As I have said many times, I would not have been able to compete without
keirin. Even though it may become difficult to earn money temporarily, I thought
that racing internationally was a great opportunity to expand my horizons.

![UCI 2024 Track World Championships Ballerup](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/IM2_7386.jpg)

_Ian MacNicol/SWpix.com_

‘I wanted to make a choice that would not only end with the self-satisfaction of
“seeing the world,” but also that if I could make the most of that experience
and depth as an athlete, I would be able to say that I made the right choice.’

A former speed skater, Umekawa graduated from Japan’s keirin school in 2017. The
keirin.jp website [shows](https://keirin.jp/pc/racerprofile?snum=015219) she has
won 63% of her 322 pro races, with
[reported](https://www.nikkansports.com/public_race/news/202311240000036.html)
earnings of US$ 400,000 to the end of 2023.

Umekawa won the women’s title at last November’s Kokura Keirin Festival,
recording her 200th career win in just 315 races; and went on to finish second
behind Mina Sato in December 2023’s Girls Grand Prix.

Her decision is another demonstration of the finances of top-level UCI
competition, described as ‘
[unsustainable](https://www.instagram.com/p/C4NNdKPMjln/c/18007974263114760/)‘
by DerbyWheel CEO James Pope earlier this year – and the irresistible pressure
on Japanese riders lucky enough to have the option of a professional career back
home.

**Categories:** Original
**Tags:** ballerup2024, japan