Japan claim historic gold in dramatic team event at Ski Flying Worlds

Japan made history at the 2026 FIS Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, as Ren Nikaido, Ryoyu Kobayashi, Tomofumi Naito, and Naoki Nakamura claimed gold in the team competition, securing the nation’s first-ever medal in a Ski Flying World Championships team event.

The Japanese quartet finished 9.6 points clear of Austria, while Norway rounded out the podium in third. Host nation Germany finished fourth, matching their result from the last two times the Ski Flying World Championships were held in Oberstdorf (2008 and 2018).

The Japanese team already led the way at the halfway stage, with a 3.9-point advantage over Austria, and further extended their lead in the final round.

Nikaido, who won bronze in the individual event on Saturday, was the final Japanese athlete to leap from the Oberstdorf hill and saved his best until last, achieving a jump of 229m (205.8 points), to seal gold for Japan. His nearest rival, Jan Hoerl (AUT), could only manage 216m and 195.8 points to secure silver for Austria.

Shock for Slovenia

Slovenia’s bid for a third straight team title was ended by a mishap involving the newly crowned individual Ski Flying world champion Domen Prevc (SLO).

The Slovenians were in the medal hunt before Prevc was due to take the hill as their fourth jumper in the first round, when misfortune struck.

Prevc was denied a first-round jump in the team event as the Slovenian star’s skis slid from the stairs on to the in-run during snowfall while Norway’s Marius Lindvik was on the start bar. One of the skis made it all the way into the outrun in Oberstdorf. 

FIS technical delegate Andreas Bauer told German broadcaster ARD that Prevc was at fault for the mishap and, therefore not allowed the first jump.

"He leaned the skis against a tarpaulin at an equipment control at the top", Bauer said. "He had the opportunity to give them to a FIS official or put them into the ski holder. It was slippery because of the snowfall, and the skis came loose and went down."

“I have never seen anything like this", Bauer added. "Of course it a shock. You don't wish this to happen to an athlete."

Because the Slovenian coaches were unable to bring the skis back up to the start in time, Prevc was no longer allowed to start in the first round.

Despite having one jump fewer, Slovenia still qualified for the second round as the eighth and last nation. Prevc jumped 228.5m in the second round, with Slovenia eventually landing sixth in the final standings.

Austrians and Norwegians happy with their results

The Slovenia incident didn't affect the podium battle, as Japan, Austria, and Norway all delivered strong second-round jumps.

Austrians Stephan Embacher, Stefan Kraft, Manuel Fettner, and Jan Hoerl impressed with consistent jumping throughout to take silver behind Japan.

"This is a very positive result", Austrian headcoach Andreas Widhölzl said. "It was exciting until the end. After missing out on the medals yesterday in the individual competition, this team's silver medal is very positive. The team has shown what we can do, and I think we can be happy about our result at these championships."

The same applied to the Norwegians, said Johann Andre Forfang. "It (the bronze) means a lot to both me and the boys", Forfang said. "We’ve been working very hard and steady towards this. There have been some difficult weekends with some results way below what we’ve hoped for, so to be able to step up our game here means a lot."

“As a team, we’ve delivered average jumping and a little bit below average in Ski Flying, so to stand here with a medal is great", Forfang added.