OSLO (Kyodo) Japan's ski jumping team came up short in its bid for a third consecutive Nordic ski world championship medal on Saturday with a sixth-place finish in the large hill event.
Veteran Noriaki Kasai was Japan's best performer with a jump of 125.5 meters, combining with Taku Takeuchi (115.5), Fumihisa Yumoto (111.0) and Daiki Ito (123) for 410.7 points.
"The conditions really made it hit and miss today but I think I jumped well," said Kasai, who was also part of the team that won bronze medals in the large hill event in 2007 and 2009.
Thomas Morgenstern powered Austria to a clean sweep of ski jumping golds as it claimed victory with 500 points in the event cut down to just a single round because of strong winds. The Austrians finished over 40 points clear of Norway in second.