Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi is pictured in action during a World Cup event on Nizhny Tagil's large hill in Russia, on Nov. 20, 2021. (Nordic Focus/Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi got a good start to the ski jumping season on Saturday, placing second in the first World Cup event on Nizhny Tagil's large hill in Russia, less than three months before the Winter Olympics.

       Germany's Karl Geiger jumped 134.5 and 133 meters to become the season's first winner with a combined 252.4 points, 8.7 points clear of Kobayashi and 12.7 ahead of Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud. Kobayashi had jumps of 128 and 131 meters.

       Naoki Nakamura from Japan was fourth, his first non-team event top-five finish at a World Cup.

       The women kick off their season at the same venue from Nov. 25.

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