VIDEO. Japanese breaks world record with an insane ski jump of 291 meters, although his attempt does not officially count

291 meters. That’s how far Japanese ski jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi zoomed through the air on skis. He set the new world record in Iceland, where a natural ramp was constructed especially for the jump, although the International Ski Federation FIS does not recognize the world record.

On Wednesday, Japanese ski jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi made history by setting a new world record for the longest ski jump. That impressive feat took place at Iceland’s Hlidarfjall Ski Resort in Akureyri. The Japanese bridged a distance of no less than 291 meters before landing safely in the snow. This jump, after two days of intense attempts, surpassed the previous record by a remarkable difference of 37.5 meters.

But the new world record was immediately challenged by the International Ski Federation FIS. After all, the jump was performed outside of competition. In addition, the ramp is not homologated in Iceland and the material could not be checked on site by an FIS inspector.

The 27-year-old Kobayashi is a well-known athlete in ski jumping. With 32 individual victories and two overall World Cup titles, as well as gold and silver at the 2022 Olympic Games, he is one of the best ski jumpers of all time.

Eight seconds

The jump was performed on a natural ramp that was constructed for this record attempt. The reason? There were no existing ski jumps anywhere that made such a long jump possible. Creating a snow jump on natural terrain, with a starting point at an altitude of 1,115 meters and a descent of 360 meters on a slope of 36 degrees, was a challenging process. Preparations took months due to the harsh conditions in the north of Iceland.

During his record attempt, Kobayashi reached a top speed of 107 km/h at the dismount and was suspended in the air for eight seconds. “This jump has been a dream of mine for a long time. I’ve always wanted to jump further than anyone has ever done. Keep pushing my boundaries. I did it for all the people involved in this project. What a feeling!”

The official world record remains in the name of Stefan Kraft for the time being. The Austrian managed a jump of 253.5 meters in Vikersund, Norway in March 2017. For women, the world record has been held by the Norwegian Silje Opseth since March this year with 230.5 meters.