Akito Watabe

Japanese Nordic combined skier

Akito Watabe

Watabe in 2018

Country

Japan

Born

(1988-05-26) 26 May 1988 (age 35)
Hakuba, Japan

Height

1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)

Ski club

Kitano Construction Corp.Ski Club

World Cup career

Seasons

2005–

Podiums

Wins

Overall titles

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

^ 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.