Ryoichi Akamatsu

Ryoichi Akamatsu (赤松 諒; born 2 May 1995), also spelled Ryōichi Akamatsu, is a Japanese high jumper from Gifu Prefecture. He is a two-time Asian Indoor Champion in the high jump, and he won the 2023 Japanese Athletics Championships before placing 8th at the World Championships that year.

Career
Akamatsu began high jumping as early as 2013, when he finished 3rd at the Japanese high school championships representing Kano High School. Until 2022, he had only jumped twice outside of Japan — once at the Taiwan Athletics Open Meeting in 2016, and once at the 2019 China–Japan–Korea Friendship Athletic Meeting in South Korea where he finished 3rd.

By tying for 3rd place at the 2022 Japanese Athletics Championships, Akamatsu was selected to represent Japan for the first time at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. At the championships, he placed 19th in qualification and did not advance to the finals.

After winning his first national title at the 2023 Japanese Indoor Championships, Akamatsu competed at the 2023 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, where he won the gold medal. He defended his title at the 2023 Japanese Athletics Championships, earning him qualification to represent Japan at the Asian Championships where he finished 5th. Following that competition, he set his personal best of 2.30 metres at the Twilight Games in Tokyo, making him the 6th-highest Japanese jumper in history.

At the 2023 World Championships, Akamatsu qualified for his first global final and finished 8th. He didn't jump as high in the finals as he did in the preliminary round, claiming he was overworked. He ended his season at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, finishing tied for 2nd in qualification and 6th in the final.

In February 2024, Akamatsu defended his Asian Indoor Championships high jump title in Tehran.

Personal life
Born in Gifu Prefecture, Akamatsu attended Kano High School and studied Gifu University for college and graduate school. He played basketball as a child, and the feeling of doing a layup inspired him to compete in the high jump. He works as a data engineer and research student at Gifu University of Medical Science, where part of his research is focused on improving jumping technique in his event.

Akamatsu enjoys camping in his free time, most often in Meihō, Gifu. He started playing Pokémon games after seeing Shunya Takayama and Shuhei Ishikawa playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game at the 2023 Asian Games.