Twin Sisters Yuna and Haruka Kasai Shine as New Skiing Heroines with Exciting One-Two Finish

“I ended up being the best, including among the boys.”

Two new heroines have emerged in Japan’s skiing world. In February this year at the Nordic World Championships, in the women’s Nordic combined event, the older sister Yuuna won the gold medal, while her younger sister Haruka also stood on the podium, taking third place.

The Kasai sisters are fraternal twins born and raised in Sapporo, Hokkaido. By the way, they are not related to the ski jumping legend Noriaki Kasai. The two 21-year-olds were captivated by ski jumping as children when they often visited the Okurayama jump hill, cheered on by their aunt, who was a ski jumper. Yuuna recalls those early days:

“My aunt looked so cool when she was jumping. The first time I jumped was on a small hill at Okurayama. I was scared and my legs trembled standing on the start platform, but somehow I managed to jump pretty smoothly”

Haruka chuckled and added:

“I couldn’t jump for six months.”

When they reached junior high, the sisters switched to Nordic combined, which combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing, and both became top athletes nationally during their time at Tokai University Sapporo High School.

“As part of my training, I was doing cross-country skiing, but once when I competed in a Nordic combined event as a kid, I ended up coming in first—beating even the boys. The joy I felt crossing the finish line was unforgettable, so I decided I absolutely wanted to do Nordic combined when I got to junior high,” said Yuna.

“I didn’t want to do Nordic combined at first, but in my first year of junior high, my sister and I finished first and second, and I started enjoying it,” said Haruka.

In 2022, the sisters entered Waseda University, and at the following year’s World Championships in Planica, Haruka won bronze—the first Japanese woman to do so. Gaining confidence, she also set her sights on competing in the Olympics, just like her sister. However, women’s Nordic combined is not yet an Olympic event.

“At first, there were rumors it might be included starting with the 2022 Beijing Games, and it was expected to become an official event by next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics. But in the end, it wasn’t added for the upcoming Games. When I found out, I was really shocked. It seems the top athletes are concentrated in just Norway, Austria, and Germany. Unless top athletes are more spread out globally, the broadcasters say TV ratings won’t be good,” explained Haruka.

The June 5th issue of FRIDAY magazine and the paid edition FRIDAY GOLD cover the Kasai sisters’ travel routines and their Olympic dreams in more detail.

For those interested in reading the full story and seeing multiple photos, click here ↓

From the June 20, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”