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Noriaki Kasai ended up in 30th place
Photo: Kenta Harada/Getty Images
Ski jumping legend Noriaki Kasai showed everyone again. The 51-year-old Japanese made it into the second round in 28th place in Sapporo, Japan, in his first World Cup start in four years and the 570th of his career. In the end, Kasai, who made his World Cup debut as a 16-year-old in December 1988, ended up in 30th place.
For Kasai it was the 570th World Cup start of his career. He finished in the points for the last time in March 2019. After that, his performance was often no longer enough for the World Cup, but Kaisai didn't think about the end of his career and fought his way back up. Most recently he showed strong performances in the second-class Continental Cup.
»I think everyone is waiting for me. And I want to live up to their expectations," said Kasai before the competition. And he succeeded. Day winner Stefan Kraft from Austria also bowed to the oldie. “To be able to do this at the age of 51 is incredible,” he said.
Kraft moves up to third place in the leaderboard
German ski jumper Andreas Wellinger also had reason to be happy, coming third behind Kraft and tour winner Ryōyū Kobayashi. It was the tenth podium finish of the winter for the best German ski jumper.
The other DSV jumpers showed mixed performances. The second best German was Stephan Leyhe in 16th place. A week after the first podium finish of his career, Philipp Raimund had to settle for 21st place, but was still ahead of Karl Geiger (22nd) and Felix Hoffmann (27th). Pius Paschke (34th), however, was eliminated early, like last weekend in Lake Placid.
Kraft took his 39th World Cup victory and moved level with the Poles Adam Małysz and Kamil Stoch in the all-time best list. He is now in third place behind compatriot Gregor Schlierenzauer (53 wins) and the Finn Matti Nykänen (46), who died in 2019.
On Sunday (3 a.m. / TV: Eurosport) there is another individual competition at the World Cup in Sapporo.
kjo/sid/dpa