The 24-year-old double world champion topped the qualification standings as the Olympic ski jumping season opened on the large hill.

Kraft notched eight World Cup victories on his way to overall World Cup glory last term and looked in good form again as he jumped 126.5 metres, the furthest of the day, for a total of 129.5 points.

Stephan Leyhe of Germany was the second-best qualifier as he leapt 124.5m for a 127.6 points tally.

Japan's Junshiro Kobayashi jumped 126m for 126.5 points and was third in qualifying.

Kamil Stoch, who won two Olympic gold medals at Sochi 2014, led the home Polish contingent.

He recorded a jump of 122m for 123.7 points, enough to finish fifth.

Individual action will now take a back-seat with a team World Cup scheduled in Wisla for tomorrow.

The men's final is due to take place on Sunday (November 19), featuring the top 50 qualifiers from today.

New rules have been adopted for qualification during this season's World Cup season.

Under the previous rules, those ranked in the top 10 of the overall standings were pre-qualified for the next event.

This gave them the opportunity to miss qualification rounds and compete only in the final.

Every competitor will now need to enter qualification and must finish in the top 50 in order to be allowed to participate in the final.