Kentaro Minagawa

Kentaro Minagawa (皆川 賢太郎, Minagawa Kentarō, born May 17, 1977)^[1] is a Japanese alpine skier.

Kentaro Minagawa

His first international successes were at the 1996 Junior World Championships in Schwyz, with a 5th rank in Slalom, and a 9th rank in Giant slalom.^[2][3]

Since the 1997 Alpine Skiing World Cup he has been participating regularly in World Cup races, nine times ranking in the top ten.^[4] Shortly before the 2006 Winter Olympics he ranked 4th in Wengen, Switzerland. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy he also ranked 4th, the best result of a Japanese skier since Chiharu Igaya's silver medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics.^[5]

In June 2009, he married Japanese popular freestyle skier, Aiko Uemura.^[6]

Notes and references

1. "Biography, MINAGAWA Kentaro". International Ski Federation. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
2. "Results, Slalom 1996 FIS Junior World Ski Championships". International Ski Federation. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
3. "Results, giant slalom 1996 FIS Junior World Ski Championships". International Ski Federation. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
4. "Results, FIS World Cup, MINAGAWA Kentaro". International Ski Federation. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
5. "Minagawa close, but shut out of medal in slalom". The Japan Times. 2006-02-27. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
6. Olympians Aiko Uemura and Kentaro Minagawa Ties the Knot Archived 2009-06-15 at the Wayback Machine accessed 2010-06-09