Olympian Ryoyu Kobayashi flew nearly 1,000 feet in an epic, record-setting ski jump video

I regret to inform you Red Bull is at it again.

The Austrian energy drink concern, a pioneer of beverages that taste like crushed up SweetTarts and make hangovers slightly more tolerable (then ultimately worse), has once more reached into its bag of extreme sports tricks. And like most things Red Bull sponsors, this one revolved around falling a long, long way.

But unlike the decidedly non-traditional sports of, uh, flugtag and dropping out of the stratosphere, this latest stunt harkened back to Olympic roots. Red Bull went to Iceland to build the world’s largest ski ramp. Then enlisted the help of Japanese Olympian Ryoyo Kobayashi to land the world’s longest ski jump.

It’s simultaneously epic and calming, like observing the night sky away from city lights.

Last week Red Bull built a gigantic ski jump on a ski slope in Akureyri, Iceland. Ryōyū Kobayashi flew 291 meters and was in the air for over 10 seconds.

The video is magnificent. pic.twitter.com/MRJlTFvILW

— Florian Ederer (@florianederer) May 2, 2024

It seems even more ridiculous from Kobayashi’s point of view.

Here's a different perspective of the jump in real time with original audio pic.twitter.com/WC8Jr0qhxK

— Florian Ederer (@florianederer) May 2, 2024

Kobayashi is one of the greatest ski jumpers in the world, having won gold and silver in the sport at the 2022 Winter Olympics along with two World Cup overall titles. While the 27-year-old won’t get an official world record for his 291-meter jump — more than 954 feet or 318 yards — he does get to say he did something extremely cool while locking down enough Red Bull to keep his friends and family jittery until the heat death of the universe.