Photo/Illutration Noriaki Kasai competes in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup’s men’s individual competition at the Sapporo Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium in Sapporo on Feb. 16. (Kazushige Kobayashi)

Ski jumper Noriaki Kasai continued rewriting the records books at the age of 52, extending his own Guinness World Record for the most individual World Cup appearances to 579 on Feb. 16.

But his result in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup’s men’s individual competition held at the Sapporo Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium in Sapporo put a damper on his achievement.

He failed to advance to the second round, which consisted of the top 30 jumpers.

“It was no good because I didn’t make the distance,” Kasai said.

But as for the record, he said, “I am happy because I had a desire to break the Guinness record.”

In the qualifying round, Kasai placed 47th with a jump of 108 meters in a field of 56 competitors.

He advanced to the first round with the top 50 finishers. With this, Kasai added to his own remarkable Guinness World Record.

Kasai was born in Shimokawa town in Hokkaido. He made his first appearance at the World Cup in Sapporo in 1988 at the age of 16.

He is second in Japan in the number of World Cup victories, with 17.

He has competed in the Winter Olympics a record eight times and is a three-time medalist.

He won silver in the team event in Lillehammer in 1994, silver in the individual large hill event and bronze in the team event in Sochi in 2014.

On Feb. 16, although he broke his own Guinness mark, Kasai's feelings were mixed.

In the main competition, his 105-meter jump was three meters shorter than the one he made in the qualifying round.

“I was not sure how I was going to jump so it was a passive jump,” he recalled.

In the early part of the season, Kasai was not on the World Cup team and competed in lower-level tournaments.

But he trained hard, running more than 100 kilometers in a month.

He continued to post good results and made the team for the Sapporo World Cup.

However, in the individual competition qualifier on Feb. 14, he failed to qualify for the main event.

“I was so disappointed that I couldn't think about jumping,” he said.

Still, before the Feb. 15 and Feb. 16 competitions, he ran a total of 10 km in preparation for qualifying.

In the end, he was not satisfied with the overall results.

“I think I will be left off the World Cup team (in the future),” Kasai said.

However, the veteran ski jumper remains positive and is already trying to establish a positive mindset for turning things around.

“I want to make jumps that will lead to positive results next season (at other competitions),” he said.

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