Ryōyū Kobayashi topped World Cup qualifying today in Ruka ©Getty Images

Japan's Ryōyū Kobayashi laid down the standard to beat, qualifying top of the successful 50 jumpers who are to compete this weekend at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Ski Jumping World Cup at the Finnish resort of Ruka.

The 2018-2019 World Cup champion has looked solid so far in the early stages of the season, and continued that form with a score of 168.6 to top qualifying today.

He sits third in the World Cup standings after two events.

However, Halvor Egner Granerud of Norway, the defending World Cup champion and second overall so far this season, failed to make the cut.

He finished 53rd, meaning he will miss out on some crucial points on two legs of the tour in Finland.

Halvor Egner Granerud missed out on qualification in Ruka ©Getty Images
Halvor Egner Granerud missed out on qualification in Ruka ©Getty Images

Daniel Huber of Austria finished second on 160.0, while Germany's Pius Paschke was a distant third with 154.7.

Naoki Nakamura of Japan and Austrian two-time World Cup champion Stefan Kraft were fourth and fifth.

German Karl Geiger, who won the opening leg of the World Cup in Nizhny Tagil last week and leads the World Cup standings, was sixth - in front of Austrian Jan Hörl and his compatriot Markus Eisenbichler.

Norway's Robert Johansson and Slovenian Timi Zajc completed the top 10.

The two legs in Ruka are scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday (November 28).