Ski Nordic: Summer is on its way, Kasai is coming: The “Flugsaurier” wants to know again

Noriaki Kasai will also be back when the Ski Jumping World Cup starts in Wisla on the weekend. The 45-year-old Japanese has become a matter of course – but after almost three decades wear and tear can be seen.

Wisla/Cologne. The great certainties characterize human life. The birth is followed by death at some point, after summer comes winter – and Noriaki Kasai follows with the winter. The Japanese ski jumping idol has been competing in the World Cup since 1988, and the 29th World Cup starts in Wisla, Poland, on the weekend. Season. But for the first time you have to worry about the eternal “Nori”.

“You can clearly see that the ravages of time are also gnawing at him. It’s going to be more difficult,”said German national coach Werner Schuster. And German number one Andreas Wellinger, born seven years after Kasai’s World Cup debut, says:”Noriaki is simply a legend in itself. You can see that he is no longer able to compete physically. But he’s gained so much experience and feeling in the last 25 years, it’s really something everyone can take a look at.”

Of course, the knees are a problem. Kasai, whom they call a flying dinosaur with respect, will eventually turn 46 in June. But it’s still enough to jump right at the front on good days. Especially on the large plants Kasai makes up for the ailments with his outstanding technology.

He last won the Japanese championships on the big hill, and in March he finished second and third in the World Cup in Vikersund and Planica. One who was still competing in his first jumps in parallel style.

“I always had to do a lot of work in order to survive the changes successfully,”says the always polite, always smiling showpiece Asian:”And maybe you have to cut me open and perform an autopsy. The secret is in me, in my body.”

Kasai, the 1992 World Ski Flying Champion (!), who holds virtually every age record in his sport, is still there and is still among the world’s top athletes. He recorded with Nykänen, Weißflog and Thoma, later with Schmitt, Hannawald and Malysz, today with Prevc, Kraft and Schlierenzauer.

It is as if a tennis player who started with wooden rackets, which Wilanders and Beckers demanded at the time, still confronts Nadals and Federers at eye level.

But what happens next? Last season saw some signs of wear and tear for the first time, but Kasai smiled with a smile:”At 40, I had the goal of continuing until 50.1998 in Nagano, I thought this would be my only Olympic Games in Japan. If in 2026 Sapporo, where I live, gets the games, I’d like to be there,”Kasai says,”then I’ll be 54.”

For the time being he is 45 and has to show in Wisla that he is not a mascot but still a serious ski jumper. Nori can’t and won’t be an Eddie the Eagle, not a joke.”I hate to lose it,” Kasai says. And if he loses, permanently, he’ll stop. That too is a certainty.