| Hanami Sekine | |
| Birth Date: | 26 February 1996 |
| Birth Place: | Tokyo, Japan[1] |
| Height: | 1.56 m[2] |
| Weight: | 43 kg |
| Pb: | 10,000 m: 31:22.92 min |
Hanami Sekine (; born 26 February 1996) is a Japanese female long-distance runner who competes in track events. She competed for Japan at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Born in Tokyo,[1] Sekine showed her promise for distance running by winning a leg at the Inter-Prefectural Women's Ekiden as a junior high school athlete.[3] Her first international medal came over 3000 metres at the 2014 Asian Junior Athletics Championships, where she was silver medallist behind Kyrgyz athlete Darya Maslova.[4] [5] She continued to perform well in national ekiden competitions, winning her stage at the Inter-Prefectural race in 2014 and 2016, and coming runner-up at the All-Japan Women's Corporate Ekiden Championships in 2015.[6]
Sekine showed much improvement on the track in the 2016 season and at the 2016 Japan Championships in Athletics she set a personal best of 31:22.92 minutes to take second behind Ayuko Suzuki in the 10,000 metres, then placed third in the 5000 metres with another best of 15:24.74 minutes.[6] She was chosen to represent Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics over the longer distance.[7] At the competition she was near the top of the field in the opening stages, but fell away as the leading pack took on a world record pace. She finished 20th, two places behind national rival Yuka Takashima.[8]
| 2014 | Asian Junior Championships | Taipei, Taiwan | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 3000 m | 9:17.55 |
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 20th | 10,000 m | 31:44.44 |