# How much did Japan’s top keirin racers earn in 2024?

*By Simon | November 25, 2024*

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![Screenshot](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/bigmoney.jpg)

## 󠀁[How much did Japan’s top keirin racers earn in 2024?](https://globalkeirin.com/2024/11/how-much-did-japans-top-keirin-racers-earn-in-2024/)󠁿

25 November 2024

**Yuta Wakimoto** won Sunday’s S Class final at Japan’s four-day Kokura Keirin
Festival, and a prize of 47 million yen – just over US$ 300,000.

But perhaps more importantly, as a winner of a G1 event, it confirmed his spot
in the Keirin Grand Prix on December 30, with the winner of the one-off race
picking up 133 million yen – US$ 860,000.

![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/K4U2fGX5ly4/maxresdefault.jpg)

_Wakimoto 2 earns his place in the Grand Prix_

There are nine spots available at the Grand Prix: they go to the winners of the
six G1 ‘major’ festivals, with the remaining spaces filled by the highest
money-earners.

Conveniently, the
[nine Grand Prix qualifiers](https://morecadence.jp/keirin/186948) this year are
also the nine top money-earners for 2024. So it’s the perfect opportunity to
look at exactly how much the stars of Japanese keirin can earn.

This year’s top earner is 33-year-old **Yusaku Kosho**, winner of the Grand Prix
in 2021. His two G1 wins boosted his 2024 earnings to more than US$ 1.5 million
so far.

And as [More Cadence reports](https://morecadence.jp/keirin/187022), if he wins
the Grand Prix, he will break Wakimoto’s 2022 record for annual earnings – just
over 300 million yen (US$ 1.9 million).

Wakimoto is ranked second this year, on 135 million yen (US$ 870,000), with one
G1 and one G2 in 2024.

Third on 129 million yen (US$ 840,000) is **Kota Hirahara**, winner of one G1
event – and at 42, the oldest competitor in this year’s race. It will be his
14th Grand Prix, but so far he has never finished better than 2nd (2008 and
2021).

**Shunsuke Iwamoto**, the lowest ranked qualifier, has earned just under 80
million yen – a little over US$ 500,000. Competition for that final spot was
particularly tight this year: **Yuya Inubushi** missed out by just 2.4 million
yen (US$ 15,000).

Inubushi’s second place in Kokura ended the hopes of last year’s Grand Prix
winner, **Yuji Matsuura**, who came into Sunday’s final on a winning streak: but
third place meant he finishes 11th overall.

On December 29, UCI world keirin champion **Mina Sato** – winner of the women’s
G1 event in Kokura – will seek to defend the title she won so decisively last
year.

Sato’s keirin earnings are markedly lower than the six women she will face in
Shizuoka, due to her focus on UCI competition.

**Kaede Sakaguchi** topped the 2024 earnings list with 23,624,000 yen – just
over US$ 150,000. Yes, that’s one tenth of the top-earning man (so far).

The winner of the Girls Grand Prix will pick up 8 million yen (US$ 50,000):
that’s less than the man who finishes last in the main event.

But it’s still more than the winners in the four UCI Track Champions League
categories will take home: just € 25,000 for five nights’ work.

**Categories:** Original
**Tags:** japan