Ski Jumping
Quiet but mighty – Ryōyū Kobayashi lets his ski jumping do the talking
The introverted, fashion-savvy Japanese ski-jumping star is full of raw ambition, preferring to let his performances show what he's capable of as he continues to push the limits of his sport.
Despite being just 27-years-old, Japan’s Ryōyū Kobayashi is already one of the best ski jumpers to have ever lived, as proved by his career record and the fact he has three wins in the classic Four Hills tournament.
After taking up the sport as a child he rapidly advanced through the ranks, joining the Japanese ski jumping team Tsuchiya Home Ski Team in 2015 before stepping out onto the world stage for the first time in the 2015–16 season.
It wasn’t long before Kobayashi made a splash on the World Cup circuit as during the 2018-19 season, he won 13 times across all disciplines. This saw him claim all six possible titles: the overall title, ski flying title, Four Hills Tournament, Raw Air, Planica7 and Willingen Five.
Five years later, he continues to stack up medals. Driven by a desire to win, but also to create, Kobayashi brings a philosophical, artist’s eye to his sport. It’s just one reason why there’s no one else quite like him.
01
Starting out
“I think I started properly around the end of primary school, maybe aged ten?” says Kobayashi. “I have an older sister, a younger brother and an older brother. My older brother was ski jumping while the others played basketball. I thought it looked fun. There was a ski slope where I grew up on the Iwate prefecture where I could practice.”
Ryōyū's older brother, Junshiro, is also a ski jumper
© Limex Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The older brother mentioned, Junshiro Kobayashi, is also a World Cup winner and has been competing on tour since 2012. However, he has not quite enjoyed the same success as Ryōyū who has come a long way since those early jumps on the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan's main island.
02
The importance of success
Although a man of few words, Kobayashi takes a very considered approach to his sport. Even the smallest details of competing can take on meaning. “When you think a competition is proving difficult, everything is important,” he says. “Even just meeting new people is important. Turning everything into experience and concentrating on that one run, that performance is important.”
It’s a philosophical approach that has helped him stay balanced, especially when results didn’t quite go the way he wanted. “There are times when I jump well but don’t win. And there are other times when I don’t jump well but I get a good wind, or when all around me things aren’t well, but I can still win,” he explains “It’s difficult but most of the time you must give your best performance or else you won’t win.
“I’ve been able to adjust with flexibility as the situation arises, which has helped me stay at the top for the last four or five seasons. But I try not to get too caught up in the results.”
03
Becoming the best
Kobayashi has won the Four Hills tournament on three occasions
© Juergen Feichter/EXPA/Red Bull Content Pool
Undoubtedly Kobayashi’s most memorable achievement to date is becoming only the third jumper in history to win all four stops of the Four Hills Tournament, which he achieved in 2019. That same year he would also set a new personal best distance of 252m during the Planica7 tournament.
“The grand slam, winning all four events, gave me a lot of confidence,” says Kobayashi. “To win the Four Hills is such an honour, it was also a so-called ‘complete victory’, so I was happy to have done that.”
The following year saw Kobayashi end the season in third place before the 2021–22 season saw victories in Finland, Germany and Switzerland and another Four Hills victory thanks to three wins from four events.
He was a constant fixture on the podium throughout the 2022-23 season, including a second-place finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Then, earlier this year, he made history as just the sixth man to win the Four Hills ski jumping tournament for a third time.
Not that any of this went to his head. Kobayashi says he’s barely noticed when he goes back to Japan, a situation we sense he’s content with.
04
A dedicated athlete
For someone so focused on their sport, Kobayashi doesn’t feel too much pressure to succeed as “I don’t really pay attention to what’s going on around me. Only on my own performance.”
Kobayashi has always been extremely focused
© Fabian Hain/Red Bull Content Pool
I’m quite an expressive person. Maybe if I wasn’t a ski jumper, I’d be in some kind of performance field
He says some aspects of being a professional athlete are “tiresome”, including the constant travel and being away from family and friends, but he does take miso soup and ramen on the road, and has recently dug out his Nintendo Switch “for the first time in a long time,” too.
When he’s at home in Sapporo he likes the quiet life, tidying his house, going out to eat, and collecting art, including a Banksy reproduction he showed off on YouTube. He’s also a renowned clotheshorse and currently has a deal with high-fashion label Prada, something he’s typically nonchalant about, explaining only that “it’s nice to wear nice clothes”.
05
A unique mental approach
Kobayashi on the slopes in Germany
© Limex Images / Red Bull Content Pool
When it comes to focusing on competitions, Kobayashi favours a simple approach. “There’s no other way than to get on with it. Even if I’m worried, I’ve no choice,” he says.
The one thing he is keen to talk about is one of his other passions: golf. “The ways it’s similar to ski jumping are that it’s quite a mental sport. Golf is played over a long time and ski jumping is [relatively] instant, but as a competitive pursuit, they’re surprisingly similar. I think watching a video of your swing and learning where you’re going wrong, that’s also the most important thing about ski jumping, examining my own jumps and seeing where I can improve.”
His favourite golfers are Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler and he has friends on the Japanese Tour. For now, Kobayashi doesn’t aspire to compete at that level, but says golf is a “mental refresh” between ski jumping competitions.
06
What does the future hold?
“I’m often asked that, but I don’t really know the answer,” Kobayashi says about a life post-ski jumping. “I guess I don’t want to do anything. That’s why I’m making this relationship with modelling and taking in lots of stimuli to see what I can turn into an idea.”
Stretching out
© Limex Images / Red Bull Content Pool
I don’t really pay attention to what’s going on around me. Only on my own performance
It’s unique for an athlete to be so focused on culture and a life outside of the sport. But it’s what makes Kobayashi a well-rounded human, always ready to draw inspiration from those around him. “I take a lot from artists and musicians,” he says. “I’m quite an expressive person. Maybe if I wasn’t a ski jumper, I’d be in some kind of performance field.”
He can’t see himself leaving ski jumping behind entirely, though. “Even after I retire, I want to make a contribution to the world of ski jumping, to liven it up and make it more popular. And if I can say I made a difference, that would be great,” he says. “It’s OK if I’m not involved in running competitions, but I wouldn’t want to be a coach. Fundamentally I tend to find doing things a pain, but I like having fun.”
It's clear Kobayashi will continue to awe us. On April 24, he landed a ski jump world record in Iceland, jumping 291m. Check out that world record jump the video below.