Are you drawn to adventure? Ski jumping. Japan wins its first team title at the Ski Flying World Championships. A massive 220m jump. It is an adventure like the Hakone Ekiden running through the mountains.

Are you drawn to adventure? Ski jumping. Japan has achieved its first team victory at the Ski Flying World Championships. A massive jump exceeding 220m. It hardly seems like a sport. It is an adventure, much like the Hakone Ekiden running through the mountains. I want to sincerely applaud the four Japanese heroes who reached the pinnacle.

The team event was held on the 25th in Oberstdorf, Germany. The hill size, considered the limit for safe jumping, is 235m.

The ski jumping events held at the Olympics are the Normal Hill (NH) and the Large Hill (LH). The NH has a hill size of 85–109m, while the LH is 110–185m. Ski flying involves even greater distances, with a hill size of 185m or more.

In fact, there are only five such hill-size jumping hills in the world, located in Slovenia, Germany, Norway, Austria, and the Czech Republic. The Ski Flying World Championships, held in principle every two years, rotate among these venues.

Originally an individual-only competition, it began including team events in 2004.

This is a discipline that cannot be practiced in Japan. Individually, Japanese athletes Noriaki Kasai in 1992 and Kazuyoshi Funaki in 1998 reached the top. However, the best result for the team had been 5th place; they had never stood on the podium.

This time, the quartet of Japanese ace Ryoyu Kobayashi, Tomofumi Naito, Naoki Nakamura, and Ren Nikaido took to the skies.

The rules require each athlete to jump twice. In the first round, top athlete Kobayashi jumped 223m to put the team in 2nd place. The second jumper, Naito, was competing in his first ski flying event; he kept the team in 2nd with a 216m jump. Then, Nakamura narrowed the gap with the leader, and anchor Nikaido completed the comeback to put the team in 1st place after the first round.

In the second round, although Kobayashi allowed a reversal, Naito achieved a personal best jump of 222.5m. Amidst falling snow, Nakamura made a massive 224m jump. Finally, the last jumper, Nikaido, showed a 229m flight, putting pressure on the Austrian athlete who jumped after him.

Japan scored a total of 1569.6 points, surpassing Austria by 0.4 points to achieve their first victory. When it comes to Japanese ski jumping, ace Ryoyu Kobayashi, who won the gold medal in the NH at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, is the leader. Additionally, Nikaido had already secured a 3rd place finish in the individual event at this tournament.

In this team event, the performances of the second jumper, Naito, and the third jumper, Nakamura, shone brightly. In particular, Nakamura had the highest score among all third-position jumpers for both of his jumps. Naito also performed brilliantly in his first ski flying challenge, with a satisfying 222m jump in the second round.

The Ski Association of Japan describes the ski flying discipline as a "deciding match for humanity to fly the farthest in the world." It is truly an adventure that challenges the far reaches. I want to applaud the four Japanese heroes who became the best in the world.

The Hakone Ekiden, held at the start of the year, also feels like more than just a sport; it carries a strong sense of adventure. Passing the sash and running up and down the mountains of Hakone.

This year in particular, Asahi Kuroda of Aoyama Gakuin University showed otherworldly speed to secure a massive comeback victory. It looked as if he were running on flat ground, but he was actually challenging a path of continuous mountain climbing.

Next month, the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will be held in Italy. We will likely see heated battles as athletes aim to be number one in their respective events. Even so, this World Ski Flying Championship feels like a tournament that is second to none, even compared to the Olympics.

I want to send my heartfelt applause to the four Japanese heroes. You are great adventurers. With your otherworldly massive jumps, you have become the best in humanity.