Ski jumping: Noriaki Kasai still in form
Last winter, at the end of February, Japanese legend Noriaki Kasai returned to the ski jumping World Cup. Several times in the points, he was also selected for two team competitions, proof that the level, at almost 52 (he turned 52 in June), was still there.
In October, the man with 651 World Cup starts was aiming to qualify for the Japanese group at the national championships in Hakuba (Japan). Seventh on the normal hill (Tomofumi Naito and Yuki Ito won) then fourth on the large hill (Ryoyu Kobayashi and Sara Takanashi won), he unfortunately didn’t convince the staff.
“I was able to do two jumps over 130 metres, so it was good to be able to prove that I was capable of it and, above all, that I’m not far behind Ryoyu Kobayashi in terms of distance [3 metres difference between the two heats on the big jump, editor’s note], he told the Hochi.news website. I wanted to go to the World Cup, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Now I have to progress with the World Championships as my objective.”
Ryoyu Kobayashi, Ren Nikaido, Junshiro Kobayashi, Keiichi Sato and Naoki Nakamura will represent Japan in the World Cup until Christmas, with Noriaki Kasai competing in the Continental Cup. They will compete in Zhangjiakou (China) and Ruka (Finland) in December.
Full results of the Japanese ski jumping championships
Normal hill
Men
Ladies
Large hill
Men
Ladies
