Kazuyoshi Funaki (船木 和喜, Funaki Kazuyoshi) (born 27 April 1975) is a Japanese former ski jumper. He ranked among the most successful sportsmen of its discipline, particularly in the 1990s. Funaki is known for his special variant of the V-style, in which the body lies flatter between the skis than usual.

Kazuyoshi Funaki
船木 和喜
Funaki at the 2014 Okurayama Summer Ski Jumping Championship
Country Japan
Full name船木 和喜
Born (1975-04-27) 27 April 1975 (age 49)
Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Ski clubFit Ski
Personal best206.5 m (677 ft)
Planica, 19 March 1999
World Cup career
Seasons1993
19952005
20092012
Starts238
Podiums38
Wins15
Four Hills titles1 (1998)
Nordic titles1 (1997)
Medal record
Men's ski jumping
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 1 0
World Championships 1 3 0
Ski Flying World Championships 1 0 0
Total 2 5 0
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1998 Nagano Individual LH
Gold medal – first place 1998 Nagano Team LH
Silver medal – second place 1998 Nagano Individual NH
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1999 Ramsau Individual NH
Silver medal – second place 1997 Trondheim Team LH
Silver medal – second place 1999 Ramsau Team LH
Silver medal – second place 2003 Val di Fiemme Team LH
Men's ski flying
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1998 Oberstdorf Individual
Updated on 10 February 2016.

Career

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Funaki began ski jumping at the age of eleven. His birthplace Yoichi is also the home of Yukio Kasaya, who was a Japanese national hero with his Normal Hill victory in the 1972 Winter Olympics at Sapporo. Kasaya was also Funaki's role model.

Funaki had his first World Cup appearance on December 20, 1992 in Sapporo. His first World Cup victory was achieved on December 10, 1994 in the normal hill at Planica, Slovenia. Several weeks later, he was leading the Four Hills Tournament in total tour points after the third event. In the second part of the last event at Bischofshofen, he had the longest jump of 131.5 meters, but fell during the landing - and the overall tour victory went to Austrian Andreas Goldberger, and Funaki finished second.

Altogether Funaki won 15 World Cup career victories, his last on February 5, 2005 at Sapporo. He achieved his best results in the 1997/98 season with a second rank in the World Cup rankings. In that season he also won the Four Hills Tournament.

In 1997, Funaki won the ski jumping event at the Holmenkollen ski festival. He also won the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships 1998 in Oberstdorf.

The high point of his career was in the 1998 Winter Olympic Games at Nagano. In front of his local crowd, Funaki won the individual gold medal on the individual large Hill, which was the first Olympic ski jumping gold for Japan since 1972, the team large hill gold medal, and the individual normal hill silver medal behind the Finn Jani Soininen. During those games, he became only the second person to ever achieve perfect marks from all five judges (20 points is the highest attainable mark), following Toni Innauer who had achieved this masterpiece already in 1976 and preceding Sven Hannawald (2003), Hideharu Miyahira (2003) and Wolfgang Loitzl (2009). In honor of these achievements, he represented Asia in carrying the Olympic Flag during the opening ceremonies of the next Winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City.

At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, he became the world champion of the individual normal hill in 1999 at Ramsau, Austria. And together with the Japanese team, he placed 2nd in the Team large hill in 1997, 1999 and 2003.

For his ski jumping successes, Funaki received the Holmenkollen medal in 1999.

While he does not compete in World Cup or Continental Cup events, Funaki still takes part in local Japanese competitions. In March 2019 he finished 10th and 42nd in FIS Race events in Sapporo.

World Cup

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Standings

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 Season  Overall 4H SF NT JP
1992/93 N/A N/A
1994/95 4   7 N/A N/A
1995/96 33 28 19 N/A 39
1996/97   10     4
1997/98       8 4
1998/99 4 5 4    
1999/00 14 13 9 14 13
2000/01 30 46 40 N/A
2001/02 11 25 N/A 9 N/A
2002/03 30 33 N/A 34 N/A
2003/04 40 44 N/A 39 N/A
2004/05 30 52 N/A 57 N/A
2008/09 63 N/A
2009/10 N/A
2010/11 58 N/A N/A
2011/12 N/A N/A

Wins

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No. Season Date Location Hill Size
1 1994/95 10 December 1994     Planica Srednja Bloudkova K90 NH
2 4 January 1995     Innsbruck Bergiselschanze K110 LH
3 1996/97 14 December 1996     Harrachov Čerťák K120 LH
4 4 January 1997     Innsbruck Bergiselschanze K110 LH
5 12 March 1997     Kuopio Puijo K95 (night) NH
6 14 March 1997     Oslo Holmenkollbakken K112 LH
7 1997/98 29 December 1997     Oberstdorf Schattenbergschanze K115 LH
8 1 January 1998     Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K115 LH
9 4 January 1998     Innsbruck Bergiselschanze K110 LH
10 25 January 1998     Oberstdorf Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K185 FH
11 21 March 1998     Planica Bloudkova velikanka K120 LH
12 1998/99 10 January 1999     Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120 LH
13 24 January 1999     Sapporo Ōkurayama K120 LH
14 6 March 1999     Lahti Salpausselkä K90 (night) NH
15 2004/05 5 February 2005     Sapporo Ōkurayama HS134 (night) LH

See also

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References

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