Ski jumper Naoki Nakamura earned his first career World Cup podium finish Sunday, placing third behind joint winners Stefan Kraft of Austria and Halvor Egner Granerud of Norway.
Nakamura, competing in his eighth World Cup season, recorded jumps of 144 and 139.5 meters for a total of 294.9 points, 9.6 behind the pair tied for first in Ruka, Finland.
Kraft picked up his 26th career win and Granerud recorded his 14th career victory. It was also the first win of the season for both.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Nakamura said of his podium finish. "I did well on my second jump. I took a deep breath to relax."
"I want to show that Ryoyu (Kobayashi) is not the only serious Japanese contender."
Olympic gold medalist and fellow 26-year-old Kobayashi settled for 23rd place. Among other Japanese in the field, Yukiya Sato finished 19th.