Source: Ski jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi soars through the air on his first attempt in the men's normal hill individual final at Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre on February 6. | © SANKEI / Courtesy of © JAPAN Forward

Ski Jumping: Ryoyu Kobayashi Grabs Japan’s First Gold Of Beijing Games

It was Japan’s first gold in the normal hill event since Yukio Kasaya led a podium sweep in Sapporo 50 years ago.

Jim Armstrong, JAPAN Forward

Ryoyu Kobayashi claimed Japan’s first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, February 6 after finishing first in the men’s normal hill ski jumping event.

The 25-year-old Kobayashi was in first place after producing a marvelous first jump of 104.5 meters, the longest of the first round, at Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre.

He then followed that up with a second leap of 99.5 meters for a total of 275.0 points.

“I’ve managed to get good jumps in the individual normal hill so I want to build on it for the next event,” Kobayashi said.

Manuel Fettner of Austria, who had the best leap of the second round, took the silver medal with 270.8 points while Poland’s Dawid Kubacki won bronze with 265.9.

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