Noriaki Kasai

Noriaki Kasai
Kasai in Bischofshofen, 2017
Country	Japan
Born	(1972-06-06) 6 June 1972 (age 51) Shimokawa, Hokkaido, Japan[1]
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1]
Ski club	Tsuchiya Home Ski Team
Personal best	241.5 m (792 ft) Vikersund, 19 March 2017
World Cup career
Seasons	1988–89 to 1993–94 1995–96 to 2019–20 2022–23 to present
Starts	578
Podiums	63
Wins	17
Nordic titles	1 (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 1994 Lillehammer Team LH 2014 Sochi Individual LH 2014 Sochi Team LH World Championships 1999 Ramsau Team LH 2003 Val di Fiemme Team LH 2003 Val di Fiemme Individual NH 2003 Val di Fiemme Individual LH 2007 Sapporo Team LH 2009 Liberec Team LH 2015 Falun Mixed team NH Men's ski flying World Championships 1992 Harrachov Individual
Updated on 24 March 2024.

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.

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

1988: World Cup debut

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Records

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

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

Major tournament results

Olympics

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

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

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

Standings

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

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

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	–