is a Japanese ski jumper.
As a ski jumper, he has won 37 World Cup individual competitions, the World Cup overall title twice, Four Hills Tournament three times, and is an individual Olympics gold medalist.
During his victorious 2018–19 World Cup season, Kobayashi scored 13 individual wins and won all six possible titles in a single season: the World Cup overall title, the Ski Flying World Cup overall, the Four Hills Tournament, the Raw Air tournament, the Planica7 tournament, and Willingen Five tournament.
He is the third ski jumper in history to win the 'Grand Slam' of all four events in the 4Hills Tournament, the gold medal at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing on the normal hill and the silver on the large hill.
With 252 metres (827 feet), the third longest jump in history, he is the current Japanese record holder. In an unofficial event near Akureyri, Iceland in April 2024, he achieved a distance of 291m after being airborne for around 10 seconds. It was an unofficial world record and is not being counted as a ski flying world record by FIS.
Personal life He was born on 8 November 1996 in Hachimantai, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. He began skiing at the age of five but began ski jumping in the first grade, inspired by his older brother and Japanese ski jumper Junshiro Kobayashi. He made his first ski jumping steps usually practiced at Tayama Ski Jumping Hill in Hachimantai and Hanawa Jumping Hill in Kazuno, Akita. In 2015, he joined Japanese ski jumping team Tsuchiya Home Ski Team. Shortly after the end of the 2022/2023 season, he announced that he left the team after 8 years and that he created his own club, "Team Roy".
He has two older siblings, Junshirō and Yūka, and a younger brother, Tatsunao; all of them are also ski jumpers. He attended Morioka Central High School, graduating in 2015.
On his own YouTube channel, he shares vlogs from competitions, private life, free time and training.
Career At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kobayashi competed in the men's normal hill, placing 7th, as well as the men's large hill, placing 10th. He also competed in the team event with teammates Taku Takeuchi, Noriaki Kasai, and Daiki Ito, finishing in 6th place.
Kobayashi won his first Olympic gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in the men's normal hill event. He became the third Japanese athlete to win a gold medal in the individual ski jumping events at the Olympics, after Kazuyoshi Funaki in the individual large hill event in 1998, and Yukio Kasaya in the individual normal hill event in 1972. He also succeeded in the other event, the men's large hill, placing 2nd.
Major tournament results
Winter Olympics YearPlaceIndividualTeam NormalLarge MenMixed2018 Pyeongchang7106N/A2022 Beijing54 2026 Milano-Cortina866
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships YearPlaceIndividualTeam NormalLarge MenMixed2017 Lahti— — 7— 2019 Seefeld144 52021 Oberstdorf1234452023 Planica30752025 Trondheim7 55
FIS Ski Flying World Championships YearPlaceIndividualTeam2018 Oberstdorf16— 2020 Planica1952022 Vikersund1362024 Bad Mitterndorf952026 Oberstdorf6
World Cup
Standings
Season Overall 2015/1642 —38N/AN/AN/AN/A2016/17 —43 —39N/A N/AN/A2017/1824221711 —N/A92018/19N/A2019/20446N/A2020/21467N/A2021/229N/AN/A92022/2351884N/AN/A92023/24612N/AN/A52024/259154N/AN/A52025–26518N/AN/AN/A19
Individual wins No. Season Date Location Hill Size12018/1924 November 2018 RukaRukatunturi HS142 225 November 2018 RukaRukatunturi HS142 LH32 December 2018 Nizhny TagilTramplin Stork HS134 LH416 December 2018 EngelbergGross-Titlis-Schanze HS140LH530 December 2018 OberstdorfSchattenbergschanze HS137 LH61 January 2019 Garmisch-PartenkirchenGroße Olympiaschanze HS142LH74 January 2019 InnsbruckBergiselschanze HS130LH86 January 2019 BischofshofenPaul-Ausserleitner-Schanze HS142 LH912 January 2019 Val di FiemmeTrampolino dal Ben HS135 LH102 February 2019 OberstdorfHeini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze HS2351117 February 2019 WillingenMühlenkopfschanze HS145LH1214 March 2019 TrondheimGranåsen HS138 (night)LH1324 March 2019 PlanicaLetalnica bratov Gorišek HS240FH142019/2015 December 2019 KlingenthalVogtland Arena HS140 LH1522 December 2019 EngelbergGross-Titlis-Schanze HS140LH1629 December 2019 OberstdorfSchattenbergschanze HS137 LH172020/2113 February 2021 ZakopaneWielka Krokiew HS140LH1819 February 2021 RâșnovTrambulina Valea Cărbunării HS971925 March 2021 PlanicaLetalnica bratov Gorišek HS240FH202021/2227 November 2021 RukaRukatunturi HS142 LH2112 December 2021 KlingenthalVogtland Arena HS140 LH2219 December 2021 EngelbergGross-Titlis-Schanze HS140LH2329 December 2021 OberstdorfSchattenbergschanze HS137 LH241 January 2022 Garmisch-PartenkirchenGroße Olympiaschanze HS142LH255 January 2022 BischofshofenPaul-Ausserleitner-Schanze HS142LH2629 January 2022 WillingenMühlenkopfschanze HS147LH2727 February 2022 LahtiSalpausselkä HS130 LH282022/2320 January 2023 SapporoŌkurayama HS137LH2922 January 2023 SapporoŌkurayama HS137 LH3026 March 2023 LahtiSalpausselkä HS130LH312023/2414 January 2024 WisłaMalinka HS134 LH3212 March 2024 TrondheimGranåsen HS105NH332024/2515 February 2025 SapporoŌkurayama HS137LH3416 February 2025 SapporoŌkurayama HS137LH3513 March 2025 OsloHolmenkollbakken HS134LH362025/2623 November 2025 LillehammerLysgårdsbakken HS140LH3721 December 2025 EngelbergGross-Titlis-Schanze HS140LH
Individual starts (245) + winner (1); second (2); third (3); did not compete (–); failed to qualify (q); disqualified in competition, disqualified in qualifications (dq) Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Points2015/16 55––––––––––––72036––––––––––44–23–2016/17 03336qq41qq4645q4234q3444373846q48433944q34–2017/18 18726dq––49qdq122931202816––61919132213152018/19 2085311317111111775314192315312212019/20 1178466314114147 26 25327 15 3992––147942020/21 91927381512151316147714107697141113191122 2021/22 16212 dq1 ––7 121111544541471267106582022/23 106573031231012103115193217 –13114136225 –6 148541211282023/24 167361312537121022221522252273353821149119202024/25 910 16 17 16 24 23 13 17 16 13 12 18 28 20 24 – 5 13 7 7 q 5111 43 93 52025/26 1194 51 7 6 532 53 61 6 5 103 - 52 9 18 8 8 63 13 32 dq 16 25
References
External links
Ryoyu Kobayashi at Milano Cortina 2026