Noriaki Kasai

Noriaki Kasai 葛西 紀明
File:Noriaki Kasai Oslo 2011 (training).jpg
Country	Japan
Full name	葛西 紀明
Born	(1972-06-06) 6 June 1972 Shimokawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Height
Ski club	Tsuchiya Home Ski Team
Personal best	240.5 m (789 ft) Vikersund, 15 Feb 2015
World Cup career
Seasons	1989–1994 1996–present
Individual wins	17
Team wins	3
Indiv. podiums	57
Team podiums	15
Indiv. starts	488 (+1 DNS)
Team starts	54
Nordic titles	1 (1999)
Medal record Men's ski jumping Olympic Games 1994 Lillehammer Team LH 2014 Sochi Individual LH 2014 Sochi Team LH FIS Nordic World Ski 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 NH Men's ski flying FIS Ski Flying World Championships 1992 Harrachov Individual
Updated on 10 Jan 2015.

Noriaki Kasai (葛西 紀明, Kasai Noriaki) (born 6 June 1972) is a Japanese ski jumper.

Kasai holds many World Cup records, including those for individual starts (488), team starts (54), and the most seasons performing in the World Cup (27). He has competed in four different decades: the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He holds the world record for the longest jump for athletes over 35 and 40 years old with 240.5 meters (789 ft) set in Vikersund in 2015.

At 42 years and 176 days old he became the oldest winner in history to win a World Cup event. At 43 years and 214 days old, he became the oldest world cup performer ever.

Career

Kasai made his World Cup debut on 17 December 1988 in Sapporo. He won his first and to date only major championship at the 1992 FIS Ski Flying World Championships in Harrachov. At that time he was among the world's top jumpers, known for his extraordinary style, holding his body almost flat between his skis. In 1994 he was a member of the Japanese national team that won a silver medal in the team large hill at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. At the Ski Jumping World Championships he has a total of seven medals in his collection, 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).

Kasai also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in 1999.

Kasai has competed in seven Olympics during his career – a record for a ski jumper. He finished 5th in the individual large hill at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. In the 2010 Winter Olympics, at age 37, he finished 8th on the large hill, having won the qualification with the second best jump overall, and 17th on the normal hill. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi he won the silver medal in the individual large hill and the bronze medal in the team large hill, becoming the oldest ski-jumper ever to win a medal (41y 256d). On the normal hill Kasai finished 7th.

He currently stands at 17 World Cup wins. On 29 November 2014 Kasai was co-winner of a World Cup event with Switzerland's Simon Ammann in Ruka, Finland.

World Cup

Standings

Season	Overall	SF	JP	4H	NT
1988/89	–	N/A	N/A	–	N/A
1989/90	24	N/A	N/A	19	N/A
1990/91	–	–	N/A	73	N/A
1991/92	9	7	N/A	–	N/A
1992/93		–	N/A		N/A
1993/94	6	19	N/A	4	N/A
1995/96	36	26	36	10	N/A
1996/97	17	23	15	24	11
1997/98	10	13	10	24	4
1998/99			4
1999/00	15	10	14	20	9
2000/01	4	8	N/A	12	23
2001/02	23	N/A	N/A	31	20
2002/03	13	N/A	N/A	23	6
2003/04	8	N/A	N/A	8	10
2004/05	16	N/A	N/A	11	26
2005/06	21	N/A	N/A	9	15
2006/07	26	N/A	N/A	34	20
2007/08	34	N/A	N/A	34	30
2008/09	15	20	N/A	13	13
2009/10	17	–	N/A	11	8
2010/11	25	31	N/A	31	N/A
2011/12	51	45	N/A	33	N/A
2012/13	24	17	N/A	42	N/A
2013/14	5		N/A	5	N/A
2014/15	6	4	N/A	4	N/A
2015/16	10		N/A	7	N/A

Wins

No.	Season	Date	Place	Hill	Size
1	1991/92	22 Mar 1992	Harrachov	Čerťák K-180	FH
2	1992/93	1 Jan 1993	Ga-Pa	Große Olympiaschanze K-107	LH
3		23 Jan 1993	Predazzo	Trampolino dal Ben K-120	LH
4		6 Mar 1993	Lahti	Salpausselkä K-90	NH
5	1993/94	9 Jan 1994	Murau	Hans-Walland Großschanze K-120	LH
6	1997/98	22 Mar 1998	Planica	Bloudkova velikanka K-120	LH
7	1998/99	3 Jan 1999	Innsbruck	Bergiselschanze K-120	LH
8		29 Jan 1999	Willingen	Mühlenkopfschanze K-120	LH
9		31 Jan 1999	Willingen	Mühlenkopfschanze K-120	LH
10		9 Mar 1999	Trondheim	Granåsen K-120 (night)	LH
11		14 Mar 1999	Oslo	Holmenkollbakken K-115	LH
12		21 Mar 1999	Planica	Velikanka bratov Gorišek K-185	FH
13	2000/01	1 Jan 2001	Ga-Pa	Große Olympiaschanze K-115	LH
14	2002/03	9 Feb 2003	Willingen	Mühlenkopfschanze K-120	LH
15	2003/04	28 Feb 2004	Park City	Utah Olympic Park K-120	LH
16	2013/14	11 Jan 2014	Bad Mitterndorf	Kulm HS 200	FH
17	2014/15	29 Nov 2014	Kuusamo	Rukatunturi HS 142	LH

Individual starts (488)

He was on the start list in world cup event in Lahti in 2014 but did not start. It's officially not counted as a start.

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	Points
1988/89											Liberec	Harrachov						Harrachov														0
	–	–	–	–	31	26	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
1989/90											Harrachov	Liberec																				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																						Strbske Pleso										0
	47	39	53	51	61	36	47	57	q	q	18	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
1991/92																				Harrachov												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	50	–	–	16	21	2	18	15	33	11	41	27	27	12	20	q
1997/98																																720
	3	7	7	17	10	4	7	6	50	25	30	–	–	–	–	–	37	14	3	5	17	8	16	2	30	4	1
1998/99																																1598
	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	0	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	DSQ	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																																1062
	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																																1137
	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																																278
	5	30	17	–	–	3	10	5	12	7	9	–

Records

World Cup

Recorder at	Achievement
team starts	54
individual starts	488 (+ 1 DNS)
total starts	542 (+ 1 DNS)
Top 30 results	412
winning points individual	397
most seasons performing	27
most seasons winning points	25
performing in 4 different decades	80's, 90's, 00's, 10's
the longest career
period between 1st and last victory
oldest winner
oldest jumper on individual podium
oldest jumper on team podium
oldest jumper in Top 10
oldest jumper performing in world cup

Nordic World Ski Championships

Recorder at	Achievement
oldest team medalist
most appearances	12
team starts	14
individual starts	23
total starts	37

Olympics

Recorder at	Achievement
oldest medalist individual
oldest team medalist
most appearances	7
team starts	5
individual starts	13
total starts	18

Ski Flying World Championships

Recorder at	Achievement
most appearances	9
individual starts	9

World Record

Recorder at	Achievement
veterans over 35+	240.5 m (789 ft)
veterans over 40+	240.5 m (789 ft)

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. He says he wants to ski jump until the age of 50 because he has no other skills and no idea what to do if he ends his career.

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" .

See also

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games

External links

• Noriaki Kasai at the International Ski Federation
• Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (Norwegian)