PREVIEW MEN'S INDIVIDUAL LARGE HILL RUKA – Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 Nov 2023
Nov 20, 2023·Ski Jumping
The ski jumping season opener in Finland is once again all about exciting numbers and records. Whoever wins in Ruka has a good chance of also winning the overall World Cup, as the overall World Cup winner has also won in Ruka in four of the last five seasons.
Simon Ammann from Switzerland will be competing in his 26th World Cup season.
The Finnish hosts are eagerly awaiting a victory in Ruka; the last time the Finns were able to celebrate a victory in Ruka was in 2006 (Arttu Lappi).
Halvor Egner Granerud
Halvor Egner Granerud claimed his first individual World Cup victory in Ruka (29 November 2020). He went on to win 11 individual World Cups in that 2020/21 season and claimed the overall World Cup.
Last season, Granerud shared the individual men's World Cup win in Ruka with Stefan Kraft on 27 November 2022. Granerud (2) is the only Norwegian man to have won multiple individual World Cup events in Ruka.
In four of the last five seasons, the men's overall World Cup winner claimed an individual World Cup victory in Ruka that season: Kobayashi (2018/19 and 2021/22) and Granerud (2020/21 and 2022/23).
Granerud has yet to win the opening individual World Cup event of a season. He finished second behind Kubacki in Wisla last season (5 November 2022).
Norway (149) is one short of 150 individual victories in the men's World Cup, behind only Austria (267) and Finland (151).
Ryoyu Kobayashi
Ryoyu Kobayashi is tied with Simon Ammann on a record three individual men's World Cup wins in Ruka. Kobayashi triumphed here in 2018/19 (2) and 2021/22 (1).
Kobayashi has only won more individual World Cup events in Oberstdorf (4, including 1 on the ski flying hill) than in Ruka (3). He also claimed three wins in Engelberg.
Kobayashi is joint-seventh in the all-time individual men's World Cup event winners, alongside Stefan Kraft (30). Jens Weißflog (33) is next on the list.
Japan has claimed five individual men's World Cup wins in Ruka, two behind Slovenia's record seven victories. Austria has won six events here.
Other contenders
Stefan Kraft is the only man to have recorded at least one individual World Cup podium in each of the last 11 seasons (2012/13 to 2022/23). Sara Takanashi finished on the podium in at least one individual event in each of the last 12 women's World Cup campaigns (2011/12-2022/23).
Kraft finished on the podium in each of the last five individual World Cup events in Finland (two wins, two second places, one third place), claiming the victory in Lahti on 27 February 2022 and in Ruka on 27 November 2022 (tied with Granerud).
Kraft (98) is two short of becoming the second man to record at least 100 podium finishes in individual World Cup events, after Janne Ahonen (109).
Kraft (30y) can become the oldest winner of an individual World Cup event in Ruka since Jernej Damjan won here on 26 November 2017 (aged 34).
Anže Lanišek claimed an individual victory in Ruka in each of the last two World Cup campaigns. He can become the first man to win an individual World Cup event in Ruka in three successive seasons.
Lanišek (2) can join Ryoyu Kobayashi (3) and Simon Ammann (3) on most individual World Cup victories in Ruka.
Dawid Kubacki won the opening two individual events of the 2022/23 men's World Cup (both on home snow in Wisla), but finished outside of the podium in the following two events in Ruka (fourth and sixth).
Poland (99) can become the fifth country to reach the landmark of 100 men's individual World Cup wins, after Austria, Finland, Norway and Germany (including former East and West Germany).
At the age of 42, Simon Ammann can compete in his 26th World Cup season. Only Noriaki Kasai (31) has made an appearance in as many World Cup seasons.
The most recent Finnishwinner of an individual men's World Cup event in Ruka was Arttu Lappi in November 2006. Janne Ahonen (2 in 2004) and Matti Hautamäki (2003) are the other Finnish men to have won here.
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