Sara Takanashi is poised to win the women's ski jumping World Cup title next weekend in Slovenia after the Japanese teen wonder swept a doubleheader at Zao on Sunday, tying a record for most victories in a season.
The 16-year-old Takanashi picked up her fifth and sixth victories of the campaign, both over Austria's Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, to take a commanding lead in the World Cup standings with four events left.
Takanashi, who became the first Japanese to win on the World Cup circuit here at the Yamagata Prefecture resort last year, has 937 points, sitting on a 230-point cushion ahead of the defending champion from the United States, Sarah Hendrickson.