Noriaki Kasai made it in the second attempt and – again – wrote history of ski jumping. In his home game in Sapporo, the 52 -year -old survived the qualification and took part in his 579th World Cup – of course record.
In jumping on the Olympic hill, Noriaki Kasai then took 45th place and missed the second round. The performance of the “flying acid” is always remarkable.
When Kasai made his debut in the SkiSprung World Cup in 1988, they jumped in parallel style, Helmut Kohl was Federal Chancellor, George Bush Senior US President. The Japanese holds the records for most World Cup starts (now 579) as well as the oldest participant (52 years), oldest jumper in the points (51), oldest jumper on the podium (44) and oldest winner (42).
After recently strong performances in the Continetal Cup, where Kasai, among others, left Markus Eisenbichler behind, the oldie in Sapporo was allowed to get involved again in the first division.
When qualifying for the first jumping, Kasai had “not yet clicked”, the senior did not make the jump under the top 50. The second attempt it worked.
Does Kasai even make it to the World Cup?
In the run-up to Sapporo jumping, it was not only speculated in Japan by qualifying Kasai, but over a much larger coup. It was said that the 52-year-old would even have the chance to get a ticket for the World Ski jumping championship in Trondheim with a correspondingly good appearance.
It remains to be seen whether this is possible after rank 45. Kasai has won seven medals in his long career at the Nordic World Ski Championships (five bronze, two of them two in 2003 in Val di Fiemme, as well as twice silver).
Kasai celebrated his greatest success in 1992 when he crowned himself ski flight world champion. At that time you jumped in a V-style, Kohl was still a chancellor and Bill Clinton won the US election against Bush SR.