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 | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Country | Japan |
Born | Hakuba, Japan | 26 May 1988
Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
Ski club | Kitano Construction Corp.Ski Club |
World Cup career | |
Seasons | 2005– |
Individual wins | 19 |
Indiv. podiums | 73 |
Overall titles | 1 (2018) |
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 | ![]() |
HS134/10km |
18 February 2012 | ![]() |
HS140/10km | |
26 February 2012 | ![]() |
HS134/10km | |
9 March 2012 | ![]() |
HS106/10km | |
2013–14 | 15 March 2014 | ![]() |
HS134/10km |
2014–15 | 6 March 2015 | ![]() |
HS130/10km |
14 March 2015 | ![]() |
HS104/15km | |
2016–17 | 11 February 2017 | ![]() |
HS134/10km |
11 March 2017 | ![]() |
HS104/10km | |
2017–18 | 25 November 2017 | ![]() |
HS142/10km |
26 January 2018 | ![]() |
HS109/5km | |
27 January 2018 | ![]() |
HS109/10km | |
28 January 2018 | ![]() |
HS109/15km | |
3 February 2018 | ![]() |
HS134/10km | |
10 March 2018 | ![]() |
HS104/10km | |
24 March 2018 | ![]() |
HS106/10km | |
25 March 2018 | ![]() |
HS106/15km | |
2019–20 | 1 March 2020 | ![]() |
HS130/10km |
2020–21 | 24 January 2021 | ![]() |
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.
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Akito Watabe. |
- Akito Watabe at the International Ski Federation
- Akito Watabe at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)