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.

Akito Watabe
Watabe in 2018
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. podiums74
Overall titles1 (2018)
Medal record
Men's nordic combined
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place2014 SochiIndividual NH
Silver medal – second place2018 PyeongchangIndividual NH
Bronze medal – third place2022 BeijingIndividual LH
Bronze medal – third place2022 BeijingTeam LH
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2009 Liberec4 x 5 km team
Silver medal – second place2017 LahtiIndividual LH
Bronze medal – third place2017 LahtiTeam sprint
Bronze medal – third place2019 SeefeldIndividual NH
Bronze medal – third place2021 OberstdorfIndividual LH

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.[1]

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.[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 Italy Val di Fiemme HS134/10km
18 February 2012 Germany Klingenthal HS140/10km
26 February 2012 Czech Republic Liberec HS134/10km
9 March 2012 Norway Oslo HS106/10km
2013–14 15 March 2014 Sweden Falun HS134/10km
2014–15 6 March 2015 Finland Lahti HS130/10km
14 March 2015 Norway Oslo HS104/15km
2016–17 11 February 2017 Japan Sapporo HS134/10km
11 March 2017 Norway Oslo HS104/10km
2017–18 25 November 2017 Finland Ruka HS142/10km
26 January 2018 Austria Seefeld HS109/5km
27 January 2018 Austria Seefeld HS109/10km
28 January 2018 Austria Seefeld HS109/15km
3 February 2018 Japan Hakuba HS134/10km
10 March 2018 Norway Oslo HS104/10km
24 March 2018 Germany Schonach HS106/10km
25 March 2018 Germany Schonach HS106/15km
2019–20 1 March 2020 Finland Lahti HS130/10km
2020–21 24 January 2021 Finland 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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