Comeback king Kobayashi thrills Japan fans with Sapporo win

Feb 15, 2025·Ski Jumping

EXPA Pictures / Tadeusz Miezcunski

Olympic champion Ryoyu Kobayashi made a timely return to form with his first victory of the season coming in front of delighted host nation supporters at the first men’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cup event in Sapporo (JPN).

The 28-year-old, who attained the Four Hills Tournament title last season and is a two-time Crystal Globe champion, had not won a World Cup podium for 11 months.

However, in what is the final World Cup weekend before the World Championships in Trondheim (NOR) next month, Kobayashi delivered his greatest performance of the 2024/25 campaign.

He led by an impressive 10.6 point margin after an opening round, which proved to be challenging for many in the field due to variations in wind speed and directions.

A spectacular second jump saw Kobayashi extend that advantage to a colossal 19.7 points to claim his first World Cup podium finish of the season.

He topped the standings with 286.4 points ahead of Austrian Jan Hoerl (266.7), who was second, and Domen Prevc (266.2) of Slovenia third, with World Cup leader Daniel Tschofenig narrowly missing out on the podium places (266.1) in fourth.

“I enjoyed competing at home, the atmosphere was very good and I’m very happy to win,” Kobayashi told FIS after the competition.

“I’m hoping to show two good jumps (tomorrow) and be on the podium again. I’m also really looking forward to the World Championships as I want to show good jumps over there (in Norway) also.”

The only disappointment of the day for the passionate ski jumping fans in Sapporo, which hosted the 1972 Olympic Winter Games, was the performance of 52-year-old Noriaki Kasai.

The three-time Olympic medallist was making his return to the World Cup tour for the first time in 11 months and although he was able to extend his appearance record to 579 via the qualification round, he would place 52^nd and just miss out on the first round proper.

However, nine Japanese athletes did make it through and in addition to Kobayashi’s stunning form, Ren Nikaido and Naoki Nakamura also recorded impressive top-10 finishes, placing ninth and tenth respectively.

EXPA Pictures / Tadeusz Miezcunski

Maciej Kot (POL) was the first of the early starters to hit the 130m mark, with his strong jump achieving a score of 107.7 points, but it was Robin Pedersen (NOR) who really impressed with 120.5m, but from gate 13, rather than 15, which put him top with 111.4pts.

The Norwegian would rank 13^th at the end of the opening round, just behind early season World Cup leader Pius Paschke (GER) and Gregor Deschwanden (SUI), who was competing on borrowed equipment after the Swiss team’s luggage went missing enroute to Japan.

Kobayashi held a 10.6 point lead from Domen Prevc (SLO), with he Jan Hoerl (AUT), Tschofenig (AUT), as well as Norwegians Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal and Marius Lindvik all with strong podium potential heading into the deciding round.

Another Norwegian, Johann Andre Forfang has shown brilliant form since the turn of the year, attaining five top-three results, but he was unlucky with the conditions in the first round.

131.5m, scoring 137.4 in the second enabled him to climb 13 places and rank 14^th overall, proving he has the potential to challenge the best on this hill, come the second World Cup event on Sunday.

2023/24 Crystal Globe winner Stefan Kraft (AUT) rose three places into sixth, before Tshcofenig celebrated his strong 137m finishing jump, which he hoped would be enough to challenge at the top end.

In what was a rare occurrence though, given his stunning successes this season, this time Tschofenig’s second round attack would not be enough.

EXPA Pictures / Tadeusz Miezcunski

Hoerl and Prevc threw down scores of 139.4 and 138.6 to moving ahead, before Kobayashi improved on what was the strongest jump in round one (138.2 pts), with an even larger scoring second round effort (148.2).

“My shape is getting better every day, but I still need to stay focused,” said Prevc after his third World Cup podium finish of the season.

“Today there was some ‘grounding’ in the trial run (which did not go well) so I needed to focus and not think I’m capable of everything without hard work.

“So long as I stay focused and work hard and then things happen like today.”