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51 years old and not the least bit tired. Now Japanese ski jumping legend Noriaki Kasai could even make her return to the World Cup on February 17 in Sapporo. This would mean that he would extend his own record as the oldest World Cup participant in history by four years. The last time Kasai flew over a World Cup ski jump was in February 2020 – also in Sapporo.
Just hop into Sapporo
The reason for the hope of a comeback is Kasai’s performance in his younger year. The former champion finished two of the three races of the Continental Cup, the second highest ski jumping competition category of the international ski association FIS behind the World Cup, as the best Japanese (ranks 9 and 11) in Sapporo at the end of January. In addition, there was victory in the prestigious domestic Japanese TVh Cup at the same venue on February 3. Once again he performed better than his much younger competitors: all jumpers in the top 10 were born more than twenty years before Kasai.
The last time he was used outside Japan was in December 2020 during the Continental Cup in Engelberg.
An incredible career
The Japanese looks back on an extremely successful career. With 17 World Cup victories, he ranks 19th on the all-time best list (second best Japanese after Ryoyu Kobayashi). He also won a complete set of medals at major events. Gold at the World Ski Flying Championships in Harrachov (Czech Republic) in 1992, silver at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi (Russia) on the large hill and two bronze medals at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme (Italy) in 2003 (large and normal hill ).
Kasai also holds several records. Including for the most World Cup starts (569) and the oldest World Cup winner (42 years, 176 days). A return of Kasai to the World Cup would also mean the temporary loss of a record for a Swiss: four-time Olympic champion Simon Ammann (42) would no longer be the oldest participant in the competition for at least a weekend.
Kasai’s winning jump of the weekend:
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
