Olympics & Paralympics

Kobayashi earns gold in normal hill ski jumping

The Associated Press
Ryoyu Kobayashi celebrates after winning gold during the flower ceremony for the men’s normal hill individual ski jumping event at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Sunday in Zhangjiakou, China.

The Japan News

22:48 JST, February 6, 2022

Ryoyu Kobayashi gave Japan its first gold medal in the men’s ski jumping in 24 years and the first overall at the Beijing Winter Olympics when he won the normal hill event on Sunday night.

The 25-year-old Kobayashi had jumps of 104.50 and 99.50 meters to score 275.0 points at the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre.

Kobayashi’s older brother Junshiro placed 27th.

Kobayashi, an Iwate Prefecture native, placed seventh in the normal hill his Olympic debut at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. He will be among the favorites in the large hill, in which he has five World Cup victories this season.

In the qualifying round on Saturday, Kobayashi finished fourth with 111.4 points after a jump of 99 meters.

Kobayashi’s gold was the first for Japan in ski jumping since Kazuyoshi Funaki won the large hill title at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.