Atsushi Sato

is a Japanese long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. He is the Asian record holder in the half marathon with his time of 60:25 minutes. His marathon best of 2:07:13 hours is the fourth fastest by a Japanese athlete. He is married to Miho Sato (née Sugimori), who was a 2004 Japanese Olympian. On his second outing at the 2001 Fukuoka Marathon he was less successful, as he finished out of contention in eleventh place.

He did not run over the distance in 2002 and entered shorter races instead. He was fourth at the Yamaguchi half marathon (setting a best of 61:53 minutes), then led the Japanese team to the team silver at the 2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, taking eighth in another personal best of 61:37 minutes. Returning to Japan he set a 5000 m best of 13:37.97 to win at the Nobeoka Golden Games. At the Japanese Track and Field Championships he was the runner-up in the 10,000 metres and subsequently represented Japan at the 2002 Asian Games, taking sixth place. He placed third at the Sapporo Half Marathon in July and was tenth in the marathon at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris. He set a series of personal bests in 2004: 8:00.83 minutes for the 3000 metres, 13:33.62 minutes at the Oda Memorial 5000 m, 2:08:36 hours in the marathon (fourth in Lake Biwa), and finally a 10,000 metres best of 27:56.86 min in Niigata. He did not gain selection for the 2004 Olympic team. He performed to a lower standard in 2005, having seasonal highlights of a fifth-place finish in the 10,000 m Japanese trials and 16th at the Chicago Marathon. His 2006 was worse, as his only major competition was the Lake Biwa Marathon and he failed to finish the race. He was one second off his best at the Sapporo Half Marathon, taking third on the podium. At the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships he broke the Asian record for the half marathon with a time of 1:00:25 hours. This brought him ninth place overall, but he was one of only two non-African-born runners to finish in the top ten (alongside Marilson dos Santos). At the end of the year he was the first Japanese runner home at the Fukuoka Marathon and his run of 2:07:13 hours for third place made him the fourth fastest Japanese marathoner ever and gained him a spot on the Olympic team.

In spite of a strong previous year, he managed only sixth at the Good Luck Beijing test event marathon (with a time of 2:23:50 hours) and was the last runner to finish in the 2008 Olympic marathon, which took him 2:41:08 hours to complete the course. In 2009 he was runner-up at the Japanese Corporate Team Half Marathon Championships with a time of 1:01:29 hours (the second best of his career) and was eighth at the 2009 London Marathon with a run of 2:09:16 hours.

Sato began 2010 at the New Year Ekiden and he moved his team, Chugoku Electric, up in the rankings by winning his 22.3 km stage. The following month he came third at the Tokyo Marathon in February 2010 in very cold conditions. He missed the rest of the 2010 running season due to injury and tried a comeback at the 2011 Chicago Marathon, but did not finish. He struggled in the 23 km stage of the 2012 New Year Ekiden and subsequently missed races due to injury.

Personal bests 5000 metres – 13:33.62 min (2004) 10,000 metres – 27:56.86 min (2004) Half marathon – 1:00:25 hrs (2007) Marathon – 2:07:13 (2007)