22-year-old Hijiri Kato showed a good fight to finish in 18th place at the men's giant slalom of the ski and alpine world championships held in Italy.
It is the first time in 36 years that a Japanese player has been ranked in the top 20 in this event.
Kato, who participated in the world championship for the first time, was in 26th place in the men's giant slalom held on the 19th, the first time slipping at 1: 21.76, but the second time was 1: 19.82, the ninth in this time. With a good time, he moved up a lot and finished 18th with a total of 2: 41.58.
According to the Ski Association of Japan, it is the first time in 36 years that a Japanese player has been ranked in the top 20 in the men's giant slalom since Tetsuya Okabe was ranked 20th in 1985.
Kato is 22 years old from Nagano prefecture.
After graduating from junior high school, he went to Austria alone and participated in the World Cup since 2018, but he has not advanced to the second time to compete with the top 30 people in Giant Slalom, and showed a good fight at the first world championship. It was.
The winner was Mathieu Faivre of France, with a total time of 2: 37.25.
Kato is scheduled to participate in the men's rotation on the 21st.