Country Japan Individual wins 17 Weight 62 kg Full name 葛西 紀明 Name Noriaki Kasai Spouse Reina Harima (m. 2014) | Ski club Tsuchiya Home Ski Team Role Ski jumper Parents Toshinori Kasai Seasons 1989–19941996–present Height 1.77 m | |
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Siblings Kumiko Kasai, Noriko Hamaya Similar People Daiki Ito, Peter Prevc, Severin Freund, Kamil Stoch, Gregor Schlierenzauer | ||
Noriaki kasai vikersund 1990 ski flying world championships
Noriaki Kasai (葛西 紀明, Kasai Noriaki, born 6 June 1972) is a Japanese ski jumper. He is a 1992 ski flying world champion and 1999 Nordic Tournament winner. In 2016, he was honoured with a Guinness World Records certificate for the most World Cup individual starts not just in ski jumping but in all world cup disciplines run by the International Ski Federation.
Contents
- Noriaki kasai vikersund 1990 ski flying world championships
- Noriaki kasai 2nd place ski jumping oslo 15 03 2015
- 1988 World Cup debut
- 1992 World champion
- 1994 Olympic team medal
- 1999 Nordic Tournament
- 2014 Oldest Olympic medalist
- 2016 500th World Cup start
- Individual starts 528
- Personal life
- In popular culture
- References
He currently holds the record of 528 individual starts and has been competing in his 28th season in the World Cup in four different decades: the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He holds the world record for the longest jump for athletes over 35 old with 241.5 meters (792 ft), which he set in 2017. He has the record number of appearances in ski jumping at the olympics, the Nordic world championships and the ski flying world championships. He is the oldest ski jumping Olympic medalist at 41 years and 256 days old, the oldest individual World Cup winner at 42 years and 176 days old, the oldest ski jumper on World Cup individual podium, and the oldest World Cup performer ever at 44 years and 293 days old.
Noriaki kasai 2nd place ski jumping oslo 15 03 2015
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 (albeit also counting for world cup points). 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 5th 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
Kasai also won the prestigious ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival and Nordic Tournament overall in 1999. He collected a total of seven medals at the Nordic World Championships, including two silver (team large hill: 1999, 2003) and five bronzes (individual normal hill in 2003; 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 8th 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.
On 29 November 2014 Kasai became the oldest world cup winner when he shared the victory with Switzerland's Simon Ammann in Ruka, Finland. This has been his last win to date and he currently stands at 17 World Cup wins.
On 22 February 2015 Kasai won the bronze medal in FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 at the mixed team event and became the oldest medalist at the Nordic world ski championships. He performed for a record 12th time in this competition.
2016: 500th World Cup start
On 4 March 2016 he 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. On 17 March 2016 in Planica, he reached his 500th individual start in the World Cup.
Individual starts (528)
Kasai was three times on the starting list but did not start; at Bischofshofen in 1997, Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1998 and Lahti in 2014.
Personal life
He was born into a very poor family. He was raised only by his mother to whom he was very attached and has two sisters. In 1997 his mother died in a tragic house fire. He has no particular other hobbies in his life except ski jumping which is his whole life. On 30 January 2016 his wife gave birth to their daughter named Rino.
In popular culture
In 2014 a Finnish garage punk band Van Dammes released a tribute single called "Mr. Noriaki Kasai". Another tribute song was released in January 2015 by Jalle S: "Song for Noriaki Kasai". Also Polish rapper Koldi has written a song about him. "Noriaki Kasai".