Image: (APA/AFP/RICHARD A. BROOKS)
The Salzburger won on Saturday in Sapporo by a narrow margin of 0.4 points ahead of local hero Ryoyu Kobayashi and further extended his lead in the overall ranking before Sunday’s competition. Behind the German Andreas Wellinger, the ÖSV trio Manuel Fettner, Daniel Tschofenig and Jan Hörl landed in fourth to sixth place. Japan’s veteran Noriaki Kasai came 30th.
In the 19th competition of the winter, Kraft not only exceeded his eight successes from the 2016/17 season, but with 39 World Cup victories he has already moved into third place on the leaderboard, tied with the Poles Kamil Stoch and Adam Malysz. Only the Finn Matti Nykänen (46) and Gregor Schlierenzauer (53) are ahead of him.
“Close fight”
“I’m really very happy, it was a close fight with Ryoyu,” said Kraft, bowing to Kasai’s performance: “To be able to do that at the age of 51 is incredible.” The Japanese made his 570th World Cup appearance in front of his home crowd after a four-year break. The long-standing top man made it into the squad for the home competitions with impressive performances in the Continental Cup and national competitions.
- Read more: Historical record by Noriaki Kasai
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I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
