Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi soars through the air during the first stage of the 70th Four Hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany, on Dec. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

       OBERSTDORF, Germany (Kyodo) -- Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi won the opening event of the prestigious Four Hills tournament in Germany on Wednesday, capturing his fourth ski jumping World Cup crown of the season.

       The 25-year-old totaled 302.0 points under heavy rain in Oberstdorf to make strong progress toward the second Four Hills and overall titles of his career, having won both in 2019.

       "I don't feel any pressure regarding the next competitions or the overall ranking of the Four Hills tournament," said Kobayashi, whose 23 individual World Cup wins are the most by a Japanese man.

       The Iwate Prefecture native was fifth after the first round but secured the victory with the longest jump of the day in the second round, flying 141 meters.

       Norwegian jumpers took the next three spots, with Halvor Egner Granerud second with 299.2 points, Robert Johansson third on 298.6 and Marius Lindvik 5.7 points behind the winner in fourth.

       Japan's Junshiro Kobayashi finished 11th, Naoki Nakamura 20th, Daiki Ito 34th and Keiichi Sato 46th.

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