Akito Watabe

Akito Watabe
Watabe in 2018
CountryJapan
Born (1988-05-26) 26 May 1988 (age 36)
Hakuba, Japan
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Ski clubKitano Construction Corp.Ski Club
World Cup career
Seasons2005
Indiv. podiums74
Indiv. wins19
Overall titles1 (2018)
Medal record
Men's nordic combined
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
2014 Sochi Individual NH
2018 Pyeongchang Individual NH
2022 Beijing Individual LH
2022 Beijing Team LH
World Championships
2009 Liberec 4 x 5 km team
2017 Lahti Individual LH
2017 Lahti Team sprint
2019 Seefeld Individual NH
2021 Oberstdorf Individual LH

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.

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 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Akito Watabe took home the silver medal in the Nordic Combined Individual Gundersen NH / 10 km, Cross-Country event.

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

In the 2022 Olympics, Akito Watabe won two bronze medals in the large hill/10 km and Team large hill Nordic combined competition.

Personal life

His wife, Yurie Watabe, is a Japanese freestyle skier, who specialises in halfpipe. 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 HS134/10 km
18 February 2012 Klingenthal HS140/10 km
26 February 2012 Liberec HS134/10 km
9 March 2012 Oslo HS106/10 km
2013–14 15 March 2014 Falun HS134/10 km
2014–15 6 March 2015 Lahti HS130/10 km
14 March 2015 Oslo HS104/15 km
2016–17 11 February 2017 Sapporo HS134/10 km
11 March 2017 Oslo HS104/10 km
2017–18 25 November 2017 Ruka HS142/10 km
26 January 2018 Seefeld HS109/5 km
27 January 2018 Seefeld HS109/10 km
28 January 2018 Seefeld HS109/15 km
3 February 2018 Hakuba HS134/10 km
10 March 2018 Oslo HS104/10 km
24 March 2018 Schonach HS106/10 km
25 March 2018 Schonach HS106/15 km
2019–20 1 March 2020 Lahti HS130/10 km
2020–21 24 January 2021 Lahti HS130/10 km

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.