The men's ski jumping World Cup was held in Sapporo for the first time in three years, and Japanese ace Ryoyu Kobayashi won his first victory of the season.

The ski jumping World Cup has not been held in Japan since the 2020 tournament due to the influence of the new coronavirus, but the tournament was held for the first time in three years.



The men's event was held at the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium in Sapporo City for three days from the 20th, and on the first day, the 14th round of the World Cup individual was held on a large hill with a hill size of 137 meters.



Kobayashi, who won two medals at last year's Beijing Olympics, caught a headwind that was advantageous for jumping in the first round and fell into a hill size that is dangerous if he jumps any further. He flew a close 135m and was in 2nd place, 3.9 points behind the leader.



In the second run, she flew 130 meters and overtook Poland's David Kuwazki, who was the leader in the first run, and took her first win of the season with a total of 271.5 points.



Kobayashi did not have a podium at the World Cup so far this season, but at the tournament held in Sapporo for the first time in three years, he increased the number of wins he has for the Japanese men to 28 wins in total.



It is the first time for Kobayashi to win the World Cup held in Japan.



Kobayashi said, "I couldn't have imagined it at all, so I'm very surprised. I was able to finish the World Cup overseas early and practice for a week in Sapporo. I was very happy because I was able to do good jumps for the first time in a long time," he said with a smile.



Kobayashi said, "I suffered a lot from lack of preparation from the summer, but I was blessed with results in this tournament, and I'm glad I won in Sapporo. I want to do more from tomorrow."



Among the other Japanese players, Naomi Nakamura was the only one who made it to the 2nd place and finished in 30th place. I did not advance to the second time by 30 people.

Noriaki Kasai, 50 years old

Also, 50-year-old Noriaki Kasai participated in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time in three seasons, but he finished 51st at 108 meters and did not advance to the main event, which has 50 players.