Takanashi amassed 249.9 points with jumps of 97 and 98 metres to earn a deserved win ahead of Daniela Iraschko-Stolz and Spela Rogelj.

Austrian Iraschko-Stolz finished with 231.1 points and Rogelj - who won the first World Cup event in Lillehammer back in December 2014 - finished third after jumps of 88.5 and 96.5 metres, giving her 226.3 points.

Jacqueline Seifriedsberger came fourth, Sarah Hendrickson finished fifth and Russia's Irina Avvakumova was sixth, ahead of Olympic champion Carina Vogt.

The result in Sapporo leaves Takanasgi, Iraschko-Stolz and Rogelj locked in a three-way tie at the top of the overall leaderboard as each athlete has 160 points.

"I'm very happy that everything went smoothly, even under the difficult wind conditions," Takanashi said.

"I got lots of support by the fans here and that was very good."

Iraschko-Stolz remained positive as she added second place to her runners-up finish in Lillehammer.

"I think today was a pretty funny competition," she said.

"Sometimes you need luck with the wind and I didn't have that in the first round.

"The first jump was pretty good, the second one was not that good.

"At the end I'm happy about the second place.

"The best thing today is that we have three World Cup leaders now."

The result means Takanashi, Iraschko-Stolz and Rogelj are joint top of the leaderboard with 160 points ©Getty Images



Rogelj conceded it had been a tough event for her, with the weather and the use of different skis making it difficult for the Slovenian to follow up her previous victory with another win.

"I was struggling with the skis a bit," she said.

"I had Daniela's skis today and I didn't know how to jump.

"In the first round I made a mistake, but the second jump was perfect.

"I'm on the podium again."

The second competition in Sapporo begins tomorrow, with the third event scheduled to take place on January 17 and 18 in Zao, Japan.