Akito Watabe

Akito Watabe
Akito Watabe
	Watabe in 2018
Country	Japan
Born	26 May 1988 (age 36); Hakuba, Japan
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Ski club	Kitano Construction Corp.Ski Club
World Cup career
Seasons	2005–
Podiums	74
Wins	19
Overall titles	1 (2018)
Medal record
Men's nordic combined
Representing Japan
Olympic Games
World Championships

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.^[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	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
2014–15	14 March 2015	Oslo	HS104/15 km
2016–17	11 February 2017	Sapporo	HS134/10 km
2016–17	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

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

External links

[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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