Wikipedia

Noriaki Kasai

Noriaki Kasai (葛西 紀明, Kasai Noriaki, born 6 June 1972) is a Japanese ski jumper. His career achievements include a gold medal at the 1992 Ski Flying World Championships, winning the 1999 Nordic Tournament, individual silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and two individual bronze medals at the 2003 Ski Jumping World Championships.

Noriaki Kasai
Kasai in Bischofshofen, 2017
Born (1972-06-06) 6 June 1972 (age 52)
Shimokawa, Hokkaido, Japan[1]
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1]
Ski clubTsuchiya Home Ski Team
Personal best241.5 m (792 ft)
Vikersund, 19 March 2017
World Cup career
Seasons
Indiv. starts578 World Record
Indiv. podiums63
Indiv. wins17
Team starts73
Team podiums19
Team wins3
Nordic titles1 (1999)
Medal record
Men's ski jumping
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 2 1
Ski Jumping World Championships 0 2 5
Ski Flying World Championships 1 0 0
Total 1 4 6
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1994 Lillehammer Team LH
Silver medal – second place 2014 Sochi Individual LH
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Sochi Team LH
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1999 Ramsau Team LH
Silver medal – second place 2003 Val di Fiemme Team LH
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Val di Fiemme Individual NH
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Val di Fiemme Individual LH
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Sapporo Team LH
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Liberec Team LH
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Falun Mixed team NH
Men's ski flying
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1992 Harrachov Individual
Updated on 24 March 2024.

During his career, Kasai has broken numerous ski jumping records. In 2016, he was honoured with two Guinness World Records certificates for the most individual World Cup starts, not only in ski jumping, but in all World Cup disciplines organized by the International Ski Federation. At World Cup level, Kasai competed for a total of 33 seasons between 1988–89 and 2023–24.

Career

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1988: World Cup debut

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Kasai made his World Cup debut on 17 December 1988 in Sapporo, Japan, at the age of 16, reaching 31st place. A year later he performed in his first Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland.

1992: World champion

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He won his first and to date only major championship at the FIS Ski Flying World Championships 1992 in Harrachov, Czechoslovakia. He won after a second day of competition which was cancelled after strong winds and a crash of Christof Duffner. At that time he was among the world's top jumpers, known for his extraordinary style, holding his body almost flat between his skis.

1994: Olympic team medal

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In 1994, he was a member of the Japanese national team that won a silver medal in the team large hill and finished fifth in the individual large hill at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. After breaking his shoulder he missed the entire 1994–95 season.

1999: Nordic Tournament

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In 1999, Kasai won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival and Nordic Tournament overall title. He collected a total of seven medals at the Nordic World Championships, including two silver (team large hill in 1999 and 2003) and five bronze medals (individual normal hill and individual large hill in 2003, team large hill in 2007 and 2009, and mixed team normal hill in 2015). At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, he finished eighth on the large hill and 17th on the normal hill.

2014: Oldest Olympic medalist

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At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi he competed in a record seventh Olympics and took the silver medal in the large hill individual and the bronze in team large hill, becoming the oldest ski jumper ever to take a medal at the winter Olympics.[2]

On 29 November 2014, Kasai became the oldest World Cup winner when he shared the victory with Simon Ammann in Ruka, Finland.[3]

On 22 February 2015, Kasai won the bronze medal at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 in mixed team event and became the oldest medalist at the Nordic World Ski Championships. He performed for a record twelfth time in the competition.

2016: 500th World Cup start

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On 4 March 2016, Kasai was on a World Cup podium in Wisła at the age of 43 years and 272 days, which is a record for the oldest contestant to mount the podium in ski jumping history.[4] On 17 March 2016, he made his 500th individual start in the World Cup.[5]

2018 Olympics

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Kasai finished 21st in the normal hill event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[6]

Records

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During his career, Kasai broke numerous ski jumping records and age milestones. He is the oldest athlete to ever perform in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup and holds the record for the most appearances in the competition, with a total of 578 individual starts in 33 seasons between 1988–89 and 2023–24.[7][8] Kasai also holds a record number of appearances in ski jumping at the Winter Olympics (21 starts), FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (42 starts), and FIS Ski Flying World Championships (13 starts).[9][10][11] In 2016, he was awarded with two Guinness World Records certificates for "the most appearances in FIS Nordic World Ski Championships by an individual ski jumper" and "the most individual starts in FIS Ski Jumping World Cup competitions".[12] In November 2014, Kasai became the oldest individual World Cup event winner, aged 42 years and 5 months.[3][13] He is also the oldest competitor to make a World Cup podium, aged 44 years and 9 months.[14]

Kasai is the first athlete in history to participate at eight Winter Olympics (between 1992 and 2018).[15] At the 2014 Winter Olympics, he became the oldest Olympic medalist in ski jumping after winning a silver medal aged 41 years and 254 days.[2]

Personal life

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On 30 January 2016 his wife gave birth to their daughter named Rino.[16][17]

Major tournament results

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Olympics

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Year Place NH LH Team LH
1992   Albertville 31 26 4
1994   Lillehammer 5 14  
1998   Nagano 7 — —
2002   Salt Lake City 49 41 —
2006   Turin 20 12 6
2010   Vancouver 17 8 5
2014   Sochi 8    
2018   Pyeongchang 21 33 6

FIS World Nordic Ski Championships

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Year Place NH LH Team NH Team LH Mixed NH
1989   Lahti 54 57 N/A 15 N/A
1991   Val di Fiemme — 36 11
1993   Falun 10 7 5
1995   Thunder Bay did not qualify
1997   Trondheim
1999   Ramsau 5 10 N/A   N/A
2001   Lahti 8 19 4 4
2003   Val di Fiemme     N/A  
2005   Oberstdorf 21 36 9 10
2007   Sapporo 34 24 N/A  
2009   Liberec 30 32 N/A  
2011   Oslo 26 24 5 6
2013   Val di Fiemme 35 22 N/A 5 —
2015   Falun 35 11 4  
2017   Lahti 28 32 7 —

Ski Flying World Championships

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Year Place Individual Team
1990   Vikersund 23 N/A
1992   Harrachov  
1994   Planica 19
1996   Bad Mitterndorf 24
1998   Oberstdorf —
2000   Vikersund 5
2002   Harrachov —
2004   Planica 24 5
2006   Bad Mitterndorf — —
2008   Oberstdorf 35 7
2010   Planica 12 —
2012   Vikersund — —
2014   Harrachov 4 —
2016   Bad Mitterndorf 5 —
2018   Oberstdorf 25 —

World Cup

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Standings

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 Season  Overall 4H SF RA NT[18] JP
1988–89 — — N/A N/A N/A N/A
1989–90 24 19 N/A N/A N/A N/A
1990–91 — 73 — N/A N/A N/A
1991–92 9 — 7 N/A N/A N/A
1992–93     — N/A N/A N/A
1993–94 6 4 19 N/A N/A N/A
1995–96 36 10 26 N/A N/A 36
1996–97 17 24 23 N/A 11 15
1997–98 10 24 13 N/A 4 10
1998–99       N/A   4
1999–00 15 20 10 N/A 9 14
2000–01 4 12 8 N/A 23 N/A
2001–02 23 31 N/A N/A 28 N/A
2002–03 13 23 N/A N/A 6 N/A
2003–04 8 8 N/A N/A 10 N/A
2004–05 16 11 N/A N/A 26 N/A
2005–06 21 9 N/A N/A 15 N/A
2006–07 26 34 N/A N/A 20 N/A
2007–08 34 34 N/A N/A 31 N/A
2008–09 15 13 20 N/A 13 N/A
2009–10 17 11 — N/A 8 N/A
2010–11 25 31 31 N/A N/A N/A
2011–12 51 33 45 N/A N/A N/A
2012–13 24 42 17 N/A N/A N/A
2013–14 5 5   N/A N/A N/A
2014–15 6 4 4 N/A N/A N/A
2015–16 8 7 5 N/A N/A N/A
2016–17 15 29 4 8 N/A N/A
2017–18 26 40 9 24 N/A N/A
2018–19 37 42 26 42 N/A N/A
2019–20 — — — — N/A N/A
2022–23 — — — — N/A N/A
2023–24 58 — 38 45 N/A N/A

Individual wins

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No. Season Date Location Hill Size
1 1991–92 22 March 1992     Harrachov (SF-WCS) Čerťák K180 FH
2 1992–93 1 January 1993     Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K107 LH
3 23 January 1993     Predazzo Trampolino dal Ben K120 LH
4 6 March 1993     Lahti Salpausselkä K90 NH
5 1993–94 9 January 1994     Murau Hans-Walland Großschanze K120 LH
6 1997–98 22 March 1998     Planica Bloudkova velikanka K120 LH
7 1998–99 3 January 1999     Innsbruck Bergiselschanze K120 LH
8 29 January 1999     Willingen Mühlenkopfschanze K120 LH
9 31 January 1999     Willingen Mühlenkopfschanze K120 LH
10 9 March 1999     Trondheim Granåsen K120 LH
11 14 March 1999     Oslo Holmenkollbakken K115 LH
12 21 March 1999     Planica Velikanka bratov Gorišek K185 FH
13 2000–01 1 January 2001     Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K115 LH
14 2002–03 9 February 2003     Willingen Mühlenkopfschanze K120 LH
15 2003–04 28 February 2004     Park City Utah Olympic Park K120 LH
16 2013–14 11 January 2014     Tauplitz/Bad Mitterndorf Kulm HS200 FH
17 2014–15 29 November 2014     Kuusamo Rukatunturi HS142 LH

Individual starts

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Kasai was three times on the starting list but did not start, at Bischofshofen in 1997, Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1998, and Lahti in 2014.

winner (1); second (2); third (3); did not compete (–); failed to qualify (q): did not start (DNS)
Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Points
1988–89                                         0
– – – – 31 26 – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
1989–90                                                   43
27 18 9 7 20 40 26 15 16 30 – – – 18 26 51 7 24 7 10 14 28 50 22 68
1990–91                                             0
47 39 53 51 61 36 47 57 q q 18 – – – – – – – – – – –
1991–92                                           115
11 13 11 6 – – – – – – – – – 3 6 2 6 60 13 1 7
1992–93                                   172
34 7 21 14 43 3 1 3 2 1 – – 1 4 4 4 27
1993–94                                       562
15 5 31 12 27 14 13 3 2 1 – – 6 5 3 17 19 45 10
1995–96                                                         132
– – – – – – – 37 14 12 9 17 – – 52 35 – – 21 22 17 18 28 q – – – –
1996–97                                                   351
15 25 7 23 6 18 31 20 12 DNS – – 16 21 2 18 15 33 11 41 27 27 12 20 q
1997–98                                                       720
3 7 7 17 10 4 7 6 DNS 25 30 – – – – – 37 14 3 5 17 8 16 2 30 4 1
1998–99                                                           1,598
5 37 5 6 3 12 13 2 3 3 1 4 3 3 5 11 6 12 1 1 – 3 5 1 4 1 4 3 1
1999–00                                                     436
5 13 5 17 16 34 14 47 18 13 17 44 11 8 29 11 31 22 30 – 42 8 18 7 17 5
2000–01                                           728
48 2 18 2 1 3 44 7 11 18 4 10 4 7 4 18 6 8 44 19 18
2001–02                                             219
19 23 25 21 7 25 30 – – q 37 28 20 15 – – 8 3 – 22 25 28
2002–03                                                       548
12 22 11 9 19 17 20 17 21 22 13 39 – – – 9 10 22 10 10 12 1 5 6 16 36 7
2003–04                                               631
12 18 21 6 10 5 6 6 11 – – – – 49 8 2 3 15 1 9 11 16 16
2004–05                                                         416
6 6 14 9 11 5 10 25 15 15 20 10 13 34 22 – – – – 9 7 18 25 29 27 31 39 31
2005–06                                             249
q 41 32 21 38 39 19 13 12 9 11 24 4 – – 21 19 19 13 14 31 28
2006–07                                                 182
50 – – – – q 3 28 42 – – – – 33 15 17 15 19 36 9 12 37 28 24
2007–08                                                       122
11 15 17 26 11 – – q 25 39 30 q q – – – 25 42 25 19 34 27 35 35 27 q 32
2008–09                                                       409
47 33 q 29 6 q 19 17 16 6 19 – – – – 9 12 – 3 21 – 34 5 9 6 28 7
2009–10                                               344
10 49 30 13 15 35 13 13 9 19 – – 6 2 – – – – – 11 16 9 19
2010–11                                                     197
24 16 27 29 35 29 46 22 21 22 – – – 11 14 27 25 5 25 DQ 18 25 20 25 q –
2011–12                                                     45
– – – – – – – 35 29 36 56 – – – – 15 33 42 q 32 29 24 24 23 28 –
2012–13                                                       328
19 10 7 20 30 25 24 q 41 34 23 – – 11 19 – – – – – – 9 19 12 12 4 4
2013–14                                                         1,062
27 5 10 4 6 3 – – 6 6 7 5 1 3 – – 3 6 4 4 3 DNS 9 8 3 4 6 5
2014–15                                                               1,137
6 3 1 11 17 – – – – 8 8 3 2 5 8 9 6 8 9 9 5 11 3 5 5 13 10 4 2 5 8
2015–16                                                           909
5 30 17 – – 3 10 5 12 7 9 – – 4 3 3 3 7 10 7 16 14 10 7 3 12 6 7 4
2016–17                                                     401
18 24 26 32 33 21 21 31 37 10 14 17 17 23 37 14 12 35 50 21 35 13 15 2 4 3
2017–18                                             164
31 q – – 10 42 48 46 q 18 48 5 24 – – q 30 18 46 10 11 22
2018–19                                                         88
q 38 38 35 34 49 30 q 32 32 32 44 40 33 32 7 29 21 11 46 40 36 28 36 q q 19 –
2019–20                                                       0
q q q 45 33 – – – – – – – – – – – q 36 – – – – – – – – –
2022–23                                                                 0
– – – – – – – – – – – – – q q – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
2023–24                                                                 10
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 30 43 – – 38 28 47 q 49 39 27 – 29 –

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Noriaki Kasai – Player Profile – Ski Jumping". Eurosport. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Soczi 2014: Noriaki Kasai wyskakał srebro dla chorej siostry". PolskieRadio.pl (in Polish). 16 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b R. K. (10 March 2016). "500? Lepo, toda 6 je moja srečna številka. Grem na 600!" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  4. ^ "SKI FLYING INDIVIDUAL – PLANICA, 17–20 MARCH 2016" (PDF). fis-ski.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Kasai places sixth in 500th World Cup event". The Japan Times. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  6. ^ "Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang (KOR)". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  7. ^ "KASAI Noriaki – Athlete Information". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  8. ^ "KASAI Noriaki – All appearances". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  9. ^ "KASAI Noriaki – Olympic Winter Games". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  10. ^ "KASAI Noriaki – World Ski Championships". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  11. ^ "KASAI Noriaki – FIS Ski Flying World Championships". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  12. ^ Rachel Swatman (31 January 2016). "Japanese athlete Noriaki Kasai accepts record certificates at FIS Ski Jumping World Cup". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  13. ^ "SKI JUMPING/ Kasai rewrites record book for oldest winner". The Asahi Shimbun. 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Stoch wins ski jump WCup round, Kasai beats own age record". SI.com. Vikersund. 19 March 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  15. ^ Lutz, Rachel (8 February 2018). "Noriaki Kasai sets record with 8th Winter Olympics appearance". OlympicTalk. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  16. ^ "Noriaki Kasai został ojcem!". skijumping.pl (in Polish). 31 January 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  17. ^ Da. B. (2 February 2016). "Noriaki Kasai postal očka". zurnal24.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  18. ^ "Skoki narciarskie – Turniej Skandynawski (Archiwum wyników)". Skokinarciarskie.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 29 March 2021.
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Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for   Japan
2018 Pyeongchang
(with Sara Takanashi) 		Succeeded by
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