Veteran Masahiko Harada came from behind Saturday to win the UHB summer ski jumping meet with leaps of 134.5 and 133 meters off the K-120 Okurayama Hill in Sapporo.
Harada, looking ahead to next February's Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, nailed the day's longest jump in the first round, but found himself ranked only third place in points.
His second jump, however, gave him a winning total of 278 points. "I had two pretty good jumps today even though it was difficult to read which way the winds were blowing," said Harada, who was a member of Japan's gold medal-winning team at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
National team member Noriaki Kasai was second with 272.6 points after leaps of 133.5 and 126 meters and up-and-coming Yasuhiro Shibata was third. Nagano Olympic double gold medalist Kazuyoshi Funaki, in the middle of making adjustments to his jumping technique, soared 141 meters in the first round but had trouble on his landing and finished fourth overall.