Tag: japan

The official YouTube channel for Japanese keirin has published a new guide to the experience of watching and placing bets at a keirin event. But for the first time, as far as we can tell, the video has been posted in both Japanese and English versions. Over the course of 10 minutes – with an…

Data published by the JKA, the governing body for keirin racing in Japan, shows that betting turnover rose by 11% in the past 12 months. A total of 1.328 trillion yen, or 8.886 billion US dollars, was wagered in the year to 31 March 2025, according to provisional figures published with remarkable efficiency on 1…

The average winnings for a Japanese keirin professional have grown by over a third in just three years, according to data published by MoreCadence. Total prize money in 2024 was 35.3 billion yen (US$ 223.6 million), shared among 2394 male and female riders. That works out to an average annual income of 14.6 million yen,…

Yusaku Kosho‘s victory in the 2024 Keirin Grand Prix took his total earnings for the calendar year to over 383 million yen (US$ 2.4 million). It was the highest year-end total in history, and was the second time in three years that a rider had earned more than 300 million yen. It focuses attention once…

Former BMX racer Yusaku Kosho won his second Keirin Grand Prix, and with it a prize of 140 million yen – almost US$ 900,000 – in Japan’s traditional end-of-year highlight event. The 33-year-old was brought to the front by 2020 world silver medallist Yuta Wakimoto as the bell began to ring. As they entered the…

UCI keirin world champion Mina Sato could only finish second in Japan’s big year-ending Girls Grand Prix on Sunday – beaten at the line by the lowest-ranked rider in the race, Hiroko Ishii. The 38-year-old Ishii – the participant with the most Grand Prix appearances, and winner in 2017 – collects a total of 14.3…

A new TV commercial from the organisers of Japanese keirin will use footage of UCI racing to position keirin as a unique global sport. The 60-second ad is set to air across Japan from December 31, the day after the sport’s annual showpiece; but is already available on YouTube. It features a young woman sitting…

Next week is Japan’s big end-of-year Keirin Grand Prix Series, held this year at Shiuzuoka. Saturday 28th December is the Young Grand Prix, featuring male riders who made their debut less than three years ago. Sunday 29th is the Girls Grand Prix for women. Then on Monday 30th, it’s the big one, the men’s Grand…

The iconic coloured uniforms worn by Japan’s (male) keirin professionals are to receive their first design refresh since April 2002.

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…

UCI world keirin champion Kento Yamasaki has failed to reach the S Class semi-finals at the prestigious Kokura Festival. Riders needed to finish first or second in their qualifying race on day four of the festival, to make progress in the major competition. Yamasaki led the race out of the final corner, but Yohei Yamada…