Ryōyū Kobayashi

Ryōyū Kobayashi (小林 陵侑, Kobayashi Ryōyū, born 8 November 1996) is a Japanese ski jumper.

Ryōyū Kobayashi
小林 陵侑
Kobayashi in Wisła (2018)
CountryJapan
Born (1996-11-08) 8 November 1996 (age 27)
Hachimantai, Iwate, Japan
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Ski clubTeam Roy
Personal best252 m (827 ft) National record
Planica, 24 March 2019
World Cup career
Seasons2016–present
Starts203
Podiums66
Wins32
Overall titles2 (2019, 2022)
Four Hills titles3 (2019, 2022, 2024)
Ski Flying titles1 (2019)
Raw Air titles1 (2019)
Medal record
Men's ski jumping
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Beijing Individual NH
Silver medal – second place 2022 Beijing Individual LH
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2023 Planica Individual LH
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Seefeld Team LH
Updated on 21 March 2024.

As a ski jumper, he has won 31 World Cup individual competitions, the World Cup overall title twice, Four Hills Tournament three times, and individual olympics gold medalist.

During his victorious 2018–19 World Cup season, Kobayashi scored 13 individual wins and won all six possible titles in a single season: the World Cup overall title, the Ski Flying World Cup overall, the Four Hills Tournament, the Raw Air tournament, the Planica7 tournament, and Willingen Five tournament.[2][3]

He is the third ski jumper in history to win the 'Grand Slam' of all four events in the 4Hills Tournament, the gold medal at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing on the normal hill and the silver on the large hill.[4][5][6]

With 252 metres (827 ft), the third longest jump in history, he is the current Japanese record holder.In a nonofficial event near Akureyri on Iceland, in April 2024 he achieved a distance of 291 m after being around 10 seconds in the air and landing smoothly.[7] It was an unofficial world record. However, it is not being counted as an ski flying world record by FIS.[8]

Personal life

He was born on 8 November 1996 in Hachimantai, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.[9] He began skiing at the age of five but began ski jumping in the first grade inspired by his older brother and Japanese ski jumper Junshiro Kobayashi.[9] He made his first ski jumping steps usually practiced at Tayama Ski Jumping Hill in Hachimantai and Hanawa Jumping Hill in Kazuno, Akita.[10] In 2015, he joined Japanese ski jumping team Tsuchiya Home Ski Team.[9] Short after end of 2022/2023 season, he announced that he left the team after 8 years and he's planning to create his own club 'Team Roy’.[11]

He has two older siblings, Junshirō Kobayashi and Yūka Kobayashi, and a younger brother, Tatsunao Kobayashi; they all are ski jumpers. He attended Morioka Central High School, graduating in 2015.[9]

On his own YouTube channel he shares vlogs from competitions, private life, free time and training.[12]

Career

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kobayashi competed in the men's normal hill, placing 7th, as well as the men's large hill, placing 10th. He has also competed in the team event with teammates Taku Takeuchi, Noriaki Kasai, and Daiki Ito, finishing in 6th place.[2]

Kobayashi won his first Olympic gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in the men's normal hill event. He became the third Japanese athlete to win a gold medal in the individual ski jumping events at the Olympics, after Kazuyoshi Funaki in the individual large hill event in 1998, and Yukio Kasaya in the individual normal hill event in 1972. He also succeeded in the other one tournament, in the men's large hill, placing 2nd.

Major tournament results

Winter Olympics

YearPlaceIndividualTeam
NormalLargeMenMixed
2018 Pyeongchang7106N/A
2022 Beijing 54

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

YearPlaceIndividualTeam
NormalLargeMenMixed
2017 Lahti7
2019 Seefeld144 5
2021 Oberstdorf123445
2023 Planica30 75

FIS Ski Flying World Championships

YearPlaceIndividualTeam
2018 Oberstdorf16
2020 Planica195
2022 Vikersund136

World Cup

Standings

Tayama Jumping Hill in Hachimantai, where he made his first ski jumps
 Season Overall4HSFRAW6T5P7
2015/164238N/AN/AN/AN/A
2016/174339N/AN/AN/A
2017/1824221711N/A9
2018/19 N/A
2019/20 44 6 N/A
2020/2146 Cnx7N/A
2021/22 9 N/AN/A9
2022/2351884N/AN/A9
2023/242 612N/AN/A5

Individual wins

No.SeasonDateLocationHillSize
12018/1924 November 2018   RukaRukatunturi HS142LH
225 November 2018   RukaRukatunturi HS142LH
32 December 2018   Nizhny TagilTramplin Stork HS134LH
416 December 2018   EngelbergGross-Titlis-Schanze HS140LH
530 December 2018   OberstdorfSchattenbergschanze HS137LH
61 January 2019   Garmisch-PartenkirchenGroße Olympiaschanze HS142LH
74 January 2019   InnsbruckBergiselschanze HS130LH
86 January 2019   BischofshofenPaul-Ausserleitner-Schanze HS142LH
912 January 2019   Val di FiemmeTrampolino dal Ben HS135LH
102 February 2019   OberstdorfHeini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze HS235FH
1117 February 2019   WillingenMühlenkopfschanze HS145LH
1214 March 2019   TrondheimGranåsen HS138 (night)LH
1324 March 2019   PlanicaLetalnica bratov Gorišek HS240FH
142019/2015 December 2019   KlingenthalVogtland Arena HS140LH
1522 December 2019   EngelbergGross-Titlis-Schanze HS140LH
1629 December 2019   OberstdorfSchattenbergschanze HS137LH
172020/2113 February 2021   ZakopaneWielka Krokiew HS140LH
1819 February 2021   RâșnovTrambulina Valea Cărbunării HS97NH
1925 March 2021   PlanicaLetalnica bratov Gorišek HS240FH
202021/2227 November 2021   RukaRukatunturi HS142LH
2112 December 2021   KlingenthalVogtland Arena HS140LH
2219 December 2021   EngelbergGross-Titlis-Schanze HS140LH
2329 December 2021   OberstdorfSchattenbergschanze HS137LH
241 January 2022   Garmisch-PartenkirchenGroße Olympiaschanze HS142LH
255 January 2022   BischofshofenPaul-Ausserleitner-Schanze HS142LH
2629 January 2022   WillingenMühlenkopfschanze HS147LH
2727 February 2022   LahtiSalpausselkä HS130LH
282022/2320 January 2023   SapporoŌkurayama HS137LH
2922 January 2023   SapporoŌkurayama HS137LH
3026 March 2023   LahtiSalpausselkä HS130LH
312023/2414 January 2024   WisłaMalinka HS134LH
3212 March 2024   TrondheimGranåsen HS105NH

Individual starts (203)

winner (1); second (2); third (3); did not compete (–); failed to qualify (q); disqualified (DQ)
Season1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132Points
2015/16 55
720364423
2016/17 0
3336qq41qq4645q4234q3444373846q48433944q34
2017/18 187
26q49qDQ1229312028166191913221315
2018/19 2085
31131711111177531419231531221
2019/20 1178
466314114147262532715399214794
2020/21 919
27381512151316147714107697141113191122
2021/22 1621
2q1q712111154454147126710658
2022/23 1065
7303123101210311519321713114136225614854121128
2023/24 1673
6131253712102222152225227335382114911920

References