Meanwhile twenty-two year old Ryoyu Kobayashi won the first qualification in Engelberg in dramatic fashion this evening ahead of tomorrow’s Ski Jumping World Cup event in Switzerland.

The women’s Ski Jump World Cup has resumed following the cancellation of competition in Titisee-Neustadt, Germany last week and today it was Althaus, with a jump of 89 metres earning 129.8 points, who performed best.

Slovenia’s Ema Klinec, who posted the longest jump of the day with 91.5m, was second.

Third place went to reigning Olympic champion Maren Lundby of Norway, who reached 85m.

After a jump of 87m, Japan’s Sara Takanashi was fourth, one place ahead of the winner of the second World Cup competition in Lillehammer, Lidiia Iakovleva of Russia.

The best of the Austrians was Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, in sixth.

The second German in the top 10 was Juliane Seyfarth in seventh.

The top 10 were completed by the second Slovene, Urša Bogataj in eighth, the best of the host nation Lucile Morat in ninth and the second Japanese Yuki Ito.

Apart from Morat, three other French jumpers qualified for tomorrow’s competition - Lea Lemare was 19th, Julia Claire 25th and Josephine Pagnier 40th.

The first of the two competitions planned for the weekend in France is due to be held tomorrow at 11.00am. 

Kobayashi made his one telling effort with the final jump of the first round as he reached 137 metres, earning 134.4 points, and came in ahead of Austria's Stefan Kraft , who reached 124.5 m  and 132.9, and Norway's Robert Johansson, who registered 135 m  and 131.4.

In temperatures below zero and with a slight snowfall, the young Japanese competitor showed he was comfortable on the Titlis-hill in Engelberg.

One of two training jumps as enough for Kobayashi.

As he had the longest jump, he skipped the second round and still won the qualification.

Poland’s Pyeongchang 2018 champion Kamil Stoch was fourth, followed by Karl Geiger and Slovenia's Peter Prevc, who had a strong comeback after his break due to an ankle injury.

There were no big surprises in this qualification as all the top athletes made the cut for the competition, which starts tomorrow at 16.00 CET.