Akito Watabe

Akito Watabe (渡部 暁斗, Watabe Akito, born 26 May 1988) is a Japanese nordic combined skier who has been competing since 2005. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 5 km team event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec and earned his best individual finish of 31st in the 7.5 km sprint at Sapporo in 2007.

Akito Watabe
CountryJapan
Born (1988-05-26) 26 May 1988
Hakuba, Japan
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Ski clubKitano Construction Corp.Ski Club
World Cup career
Seasons2005–
Individual wins19
Indiv. podiums73
Overall titles1 (2018)
Medal record
Olympic Games
2014 SochiIndividual NH
2018 PyeongchangIndividual NH
World Championships
2009 Liberec4 x 5 km team
2017 LahtiIndividual LH
2017 LahtiTeam sprint
2019 SeefeldIndividual NH

Career

Competing in two Winter Olympics, Watabe earned his best finish of sixth in the 4 x 5 team event at Vancouver in 2010 and had his best individual finish of ninth in the 10 km individual large hill event at those same games.

His best World Cup finish was third at a 10 km individual large hill event in Finland in March 2010, until the 2011/2012 season when he started to win World Cup competitions.

During the Winter 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Akito Watabe took home the Silver Medal in the Nordic Combined Individual Gundersen NH / 10 km, Cross-Country event.[1]

In the 2018 Olympics, Watabe won the silver medal in the normal hill/10 km Nordic combined competition.

Personal life

His wife, Yurie Watabe, is a Japanese freestyle skier, who specialises in halfpipe.[2] Akito's younger brother, Yoshito also competes in Nordic Combined World Cup.

World Cup wins
Season Date Location Hill
2011–12 5 February 2012 Val di Fiemme HS134/10km
18 February 2012 Klingenthal HS140/10km
26 February 2012 Liberec HS134/10km
9 March 2012 Oslo HS106/10km
2013–14 15 March 2014 Falun HS134/10km
2014–15 6 March 2015 Lahti HS130/10km
14 March 2015 Oslo HS104/15km
2016–17 11 February 2017 Sapporo HS134/10km
11 March 2017 Oslo HS104/10km
2017–18 25 November 2017 Ruka HS142/10km
26 January 2018 Seefeld HS109/5km
27 January 2018 Seefeld HS109/10km
28 January 2018 Seefeld HS109/15km
3 February 2018 Hakuba HS134/10km
10 March 2018 Oslo HS104/10km
24 March 2018 Schonach HS106/10km
25 March 2018 Schonach HS106/15km
2019–20 1 March 2020 Lahti HS130/10km
2020–21 24 January 2021 Lahti HS130/10km

References
  1. Suskin, Jeremy Akito Watabe Brings Home First Olympic Medal in 20 Years for Nordic Skiing Event 2 December 2014
  2. "Who is Akito Watabe?". nbcolympics.org. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
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