Ryoyu Kobayashi's stunning victory at the prestigious Four Hills Tournament brought a thrill not only to the 22-year-old himself, but to 75-year-old Yukio Kasaya, Japan's first Olympic ski jump champion.
In the winter of 1971-72, Kasaya just missed becoming Japan's first Four Hills champ despite winning the first three events. With the Olympics looming, Kasaya had bigger fish to fry. He returned home ahead of his eventual Olympic triumph in Sapporo, where he led Japan's individual normal hill podium sweep.
Twenty-six years later, Kazuyoshi Funaki again won the first three competitions at the Four Hills. He missed a grand slam but hung on to become Japan's first overall champion. Like Kasaya, he followed his Four Hill heroics with Olympic gold in his home country — in both the individual and team events on the large hill in Nagano 1998.