Amid heavy snow Stefan Kraft topped qualifying today at the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Sapporo ©Getty Images

Austria;s Stefan Kraft has continued his strong form on the International Ski Federation Ski Jumping World Cup circuit by topping qualification in Sapporo.

The 25-year-old, who triumphed in Zakopane on Sunday (January 20) with a score of 278.3 points, finished top of the pile again today with 130.9.

He finished ahead of Poland’s two-time World Cup champion Kamil Stoch, who scored 129.6 points, and Japan's current World Cup leader Ryoyu Kobayashi, who scored 128.2.

Germany took fourth and fifth place through Markus Eisenbichler and Stephan Leyhe, who scored 126.4 and 125.4 points respectively.

Initially, the qualification action had to be postponed because of heavy snow and there were various short breaks during the day but the FIS claim it did not affect the day’s result.

Current World Cup leader Ryoyu Kobayashi qualified for tomorrow's main event in third ©Getty Images
Current World Cup leader Ryoyu Kobayashi qualified for tomorrow's main event in third ©Getty Images

A dramatic moment did come at one point, however, as Austrian Jan Hoerl crashed, having earlier managed the longest jump of the day at 135 metres.

Thankfully, he was not hurt and ended up finishing 31st. 

It was a bad day for both Norway’s Johann Andre Forfang and Slovenia’s Tilen Bartol as well, who both failed to qualify for tomorrow’s main event.

Over in Rasnov in Romania at the women's event, qualifying was cancelled. 

In a statement the FIS said the decision was taken due to the low number of participants at 42, meaning the entire field has advanced to tomorrow's main event by default.