Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan soars through the air during a men's World Cup ski jumping event in Ruka, Finland, on Nov. 27, 2021. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Ryoyu Kobayashi became the first Japanese man to reach 20 individual ski jumping World Cup wins as he soared to victory in freezing conditions in Ruka, Finland on Saturday.

       Kobayashi beat Slovenian Anze Lanisek after racking up a total of 324.5 points on a first jump of 138.5 meters that put him 1.4 points behind Lanisek and a second of 143 meters to claim his first win of the season.

       Kobayashi leapfrogged countrymen and Nordic combined skiers Kenji Ogiwara and Akito Watabe to join an elite group of ski jumpers to boast at least 20 individual World Cup victories. With his 53 wins, Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer leads the all-time ranking.

       "I didn't have the (Japan) record wins in mind but I'm frankly happy," said the 25-year-old Kobayashi, the 2018-2019 overall World Cup champion.

       "My second jump was really good. I've been performing well so I hope to keep this up."

       German Markus Eisenbichler finished third with 304.4 points, 14.5 behind Lanisek.

       Saturday's event was the first of two ski jumping World Cup competitions in Ruka.

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