Yukiyo Kobayashi of Japan took the title of the men's World Cup ski cross at Naeba, Japan, on Thursday.

Kobayashi took the gold medal after beating his opponents on the 1,000-meter course at Mt. Naeba Snow Resort to become the first Japanese World Cup champion in the discipline since Hiroomi Takizawa won the same meet last year.

Isidor Gruener of Austria finished second while Lars Lewen of Sweden came third. Austria's Tomas Kraus, who leads the ski cross standings with 376 points, was fourth.

The women's title was taken by Karin Huttary of Austria.

The silver and bronze medals went to Franziska Steffen of Switzerland and France's Ophelie David respectively.

Source: Xinhua