Little-known Kosuke Tanaka nailed the two longest jumps of the day to claim the lead after the first day of the Nordic combined national championships Thursday.
Tanaka grabbed a 28-second advantage over Kazuya Takemoto after two jumps of 90.5 meters ahead of Friday's 15-km cross country leg, clinching the lead with 232.5 points at the K-90 hill in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture.
After Takemoto, Shinichi Metoki is 1:12 back in third while 17-year-old Yusuke Minato, who was 10th at the recently concluded junior world championships, was 12th, 1:46 behind the front-runner.