(born 8 October 1996) is a Japanese

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

. She is one of the most successful female ski jumpers to date, as well as one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport, having won four

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

overall titles (an all-time female record), seven

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

medals, and a

Winter Olympic The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

medal. , Takanashi holds the record for the most individual World Cup wins, male or female, with 63. She also has three

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

certificates for the most podium finishes in the Ski Jumping World Cup, the most individual victories by a female in the Ski Jumping World Cup, and the most Ski Jumping World Cup individual victories in a career (overall).

Career

Takanashi placed sixth at the 2011 World Championship in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. In the

, she debuted on 3 December 2011 in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

where she finished fifth. During the 2013–14 season, Takanashi won 15 out of 18 individual World Cup ski jumping events. At the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

, she was ranked third after her first jump in the medal round, but dropped to fourth place in the final round and missed the podium. In the 2015–16 season, she won her third World Cup overall title. With the Japan national team, Takanashi won the first-ever women's World Cup team competition in

Hinterzarten Hinterzarten is a resort village in the Black Forest (German: ''Schwarzwald''), located in the southwest of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Although Hinterzarten is mostly famous for its ski jumping, it has many other tourist attractions. ...

on 16 December 2017. Her teammates included Yuki Ito, Kaori Iwabuchi and Yuka Seto. She won a bronze medal in the individual normal hill event at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

in Pyeongchang.

Major tournament results

Winter Olympics

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

World Cup

Standings

Individual wins

Individual starts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Takanashi, Sara 1996 births Japanese female ski jumpers Living people Olympic ski jumpers for Japan Ski jumpers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2022 Winter Olympics FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Ski jumpers at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in ski jumping Holmenkollen medalists Youth Olympic gold medalists for Japan 21st-century Japanese sportswomen