He cheers. This can be clearly seen, Ryoyu Kobayashi lets his joy run free, almost on the verge of exuberance. In Engelberg: a fist, swung casually at hip height, as if it were holding a whip. In Oberstdorf: two fists and a look at the sky. And finally, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: two index fingers stretched upwards, as goal scorers do in football.
He’s back at the top of his sport, and obviously that gives him more and more confidence. Kobayashi, also only 25 years old, has the old security again, and now he seems calm, even in these special days when he can achieve a new status in ski jumping. For a long time Sven Hannawald’s fourfold victory on the tour was considered to be hardly repeatable, then the Pole Kamil Stoch and the Japanese Kobayashi came and managed the Schanzen Grand Slam in 2018 and 2019 within two winters.
And now that Kobayashi is well on the way to being the first to completely win the tour for the second time. He has already won Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen – and not only that: Kobayashi’s form is apparently stable over the long term, otherwise he would not have won the dress rehearsal in Engelberg – as he did three years ago.
Community is important in Japan, but he now appears more confident
Kobayashi starts up, jumps and sails with almost no faults. And because ski jumping is an individual sport and outstanding players can only defeat themselves, the question arises whether after two average winters it is really the same again – or whether it is still capable of slipping. At least one?
There was nothing to suggest it in its previous performances. Kobayashi has obviously found his inner balance as a jumper, his body performs the movements as if by itself, that autopilot from the subconscious is now active, which makes jumping appear like a single flowing movement with the best: the approach squat is deep enough for a mighty one Take off, but always leaning forward so that the system turns forwards as if by itself, with which Kobayashi flies both particularly high and fast.
But every young athlete changes with age, through experiences with people, setbacks and victories. For years, Kobayashi has been accompanied by interpreter Markus Neitzel, a pastor from Hesse who, after many years in Japan, is familiar with the traditions of this country. Neitzel explained the reluctance, the barely noticeable jubilation Kobayashis 2018 with the mentality in the country. The individual counts little, the society around him is more important. The older ones should be treated with respect, for Kobayashi for example his mentor and role model Noriaki Kasai, the oldest world cup winner in ski jumping, whom he overtook for the first time three years ago and also preferred not to cheer too proudly and with gestures.
But how is that supposed to work? Always living and thinking in the service of the group and then doing ski jumping? The individual sport, in which you are completely alone in the air for seconds, which, as the jumpers say, causes a great feeling of happiness, but also a pronounced sense of responsibility for yourself. Most ski jumpers seem very self-confident, they know what they can do, and want to make it happen. And this is gradually becoming apparent in Kobayashi as well. He’s now speaking longer sentences. A year ago, during the Christmas break, he took a jaunt to Paris to go shopping. He obviously knows what he wants, what his qualities are, and he also knows, for example, when the knot opened this winter.
The Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck could be the last chance for the pursuers
It was the beginning of December when he was infected with Corona and had to go into quarantine. But the retreat and ten days of isolation in the hotel in the dark winter of Ruka in northern Finland did not seem to sadden him. Kobayashi did the rest and the sudden distance from the sport rather good. “I had to take a break, and from then on it worked,” he said after his victory in Garmisch. The second resting phase also seems to have spurred him on. Unlike usual, Japan’s team did not spend the European Christmas season in Japan, but stayed in corona-closed Europe, which meant: another week of rest, from which Kobayashi probably also took the strength of two tour opening victories with him.
Base fall: His trophy broke into two parts on Saturday in the winning photo in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Ryoyu Kobayashi’s chances of overall victory on the tour are more than intact.
(Photo: Thomas Bachun / Gepa / Imago)
Now it’s off to Innsbruck, on the Bergisel ski jump with its narrow inrun, the short radius in which intuition is particularly important for the jumping movement. Maybe this is the last chance, so the last possible competitors might think, i.e. the Norwegian Marius Lindvik, Lovro Kos from Slovenia and the suddenly strengthened Victory Village Markus Eisenbichler, who, despite his amazing second place in Garmisch, still 21.1 points, i.e. 11.7 meters away from Kobayashi when landing.
You could all dive into the archives and motivate yourself by studying Kobayashi’s sometimes very mediocre performance at the Bergisel. In 2017 he missed the qualification, in 2018 he was 31st, in 2020 he only came in 14th, and last year he was at least in the top ten, if only seventh. But what’s the use? In 2019 he won easily in Innsbruck, at the first Grand Slam, in which he sparked his flow with a win in Engelberg, as is currently the case. Maybe the opponents shouldn’t look at Kobayashi’s Bergisel statistics after all.
After all, it is also outstanding because it evidently succeeds better in what ski jumpers practice in meditations and with other techniques: trusting the body and letting the mind rest. Kobayashi may have developed this further in Finnish isolation. In any case, you believe him when asked what he thinks about difficult circumstances, strong opponents or predictable weather, and then you answer: “I don’t think about anything.”
Maybe Kobayashi isn’t the same anymore – maybe he’s even better.