Kobayashi had two consistent jumps, moving him into first place after the second round with a total of 268.9 points, just 0.3 ahead of Polish jumper Andrzej Stękała.

The Japanese athlete won the 2019 World Cup title in dominant fashion - winning 13 competitions - but his last victory before today came on December 29 of that year.

Stękała made the podium for the first time in his career after showing consistency in both of his jumps for a total of 268.6 points.

Norway's Marius Lindvik recovered from a difficult first round to post the best single round with 140 points, finishing with a total of 267.8 for the bronze.

Slovenians Anže Lanišek and Bor Pavlovčič finished fourth and fifth, respectively, to continue their recent good form.

Kobayashi's win denied overall World Cup leader Halvor Egner Granerud a fifth victory in a row.

The Norwegian finished in a disappointing seventh having led after the first round.

A poor second jump dropped him down the order and behind his compatriot Daniel Andre Tande, who finished sixth.

Piotr Żyła of Poland finished eighth and remains in the top five in the overall standings, while yesterday's top qualifier, Norway's Robert Johansson, was ninth.

Austria's defending World Cup champion Stefan Kraft completed the top 10.

Granerud's closest challenger in the World Cup standings this year is Germany's Markus Eisenbichler, but he struggled to keep touch with the Norwegian and could only finish 14th.

Third in the standings is three-time Olympic champion Kamil Stoch of Poland, who also lost ground on Eisenbichler.

Granerud's lead is still over 400 points - the equivalent of four World Cup victories - with just eight events to go.

A second leg is scheduled to take place in Zakopane tomorrow.