Dawid Kubacki placed eighth in Saturday's Ski Jumping World Cup competition in Sapporo, Japan. The leader of the World Cup general classification was won by Austrian Stefan Kraft. The host's representative, Ryoyu Kobayashi, was in second place, leading after the first draw. Third place went to Andreas Wellinger from Germany.

Kraft, cementing his position as World Cup leader, recorded his 39th career win and ninth of the season, as well as climbing the World Cup podium for the 111th time. In Sapporo, he equaled Adam Małysz and Kamil Stoch in the number of wins in World Cup competitions. Now all three have 39, but only two are fighting for the next one.

Where are the Poles?

Kubacki finished eighth, his best of the season. Kamil Stoch was classified 12th and Aleksander Zniszczoł 25th. The Pole was ninth after the first draw, but his second effort was worse. 41st Klemens Murańska – 113 m and 45th Piotr Żyła – 107 m did not advance to the final.

In the white and red teams, Zniszczoł was the best at the first attempt, he was ninth after jumping 123 m, Kubacki took 11th place – 122 m, and Stoch 17th – 118.5 m. In the final, Kubacki reached 128 m and finally advanced to the eighth deposit. Stoch also improved – he jumped 128.5 m and advanced five positions. Only Zniszczoł's jump was weaker – only 117 m and down to 25th place.

Tomorrow is another competition

On Saturday, 51-year-old Noriaki Kasai won a historic points cup, placing 30th in the competition. The Japanese ski jumper was the first ski jumper to take part in the World Cup after the age of fifty. It was his 571st Cup start. Second in this ranking, Swiss player Simon Ammann has 500 appearances. Kasai previously entered World Cup competition four years ago, making his debut in the series in 1988.

After the first series in Sapporo, Kobayashi took the lead after landing at 128.5 m, Japan was 1.7 points ahead of Kraft – 129 m, Third was Austrian Daniel Tschofenig – 129.5 m, Fourth was German Andreas Wellinger – 127.5 m, and fifth Austrian Manuel Fettner – 127 m.

However, Kraft was the best in the final. He reached 139 m, got good marks: five at 19.5 points each, and was 0.4 points ahead of the Olympic champion from Beijing, Kobayashi, who landed only half a meter closer. The second individual competition is scheduled for Sunday in Sapporo. The first series starts at 3 Polish time, qualifying at 1.30.

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