Athletes of the Week: Ayane Miyazaki & Akito Watabe (JPN)

With the men’s World and the Ladies’ Continental Cup sharing a venue in Otepää (EST), it is only natural that this week’s “Athlete of the Week” consists of two athletes again, who left their mark on the events of the past weekend. In both cases, their performances did not surpass the two outstanding athletes of the competition tours, Jarl Riiber and Tara Geraghty-Moats, but marked important steps for the athletes in question: Japan’s Ayane Miyazaki and teammate Akito Watabe.

Ayane Miyazaki

For 16-year-old Miyazaki, the competition in Otepää were the first on the international level this year after sitting the U.S. leg of the Ladies’ Continental Cup out. But the way last year’s Continental Cup runner-up returned to a growing field of 25 international athletes was nothing short of impressive: a second and a third place had her standing on the podium twice.

What is remarkable about soft-spoken, quiet and almost shy Miyazaki is an iron will and the ambitiousness that marks a truly great athlete which she displayed when asked about her performances in both press conferences. Yes, she was happy with her podium results but also disappointed that she wasn’t able to match Geraghty-Moats, an athlete nine years her senior and with experience from competing internationally in four disciplines, yet.

But anyone following Ladies’ Nordic Combined, now and in a few years, should not forget that well-balanced Miyazaki, who shines with strong jumping performances and can follow these up with equally strong skiing results is a contender for future greatness.

Akito Watabe

An athlete not having to prove anything in terms of greatness anymore is last season’s overall World Cup winner Akito Watabe. Still, the past weekend marked an important step forward for the Nordic Combined star. “It is a big difference if you are on the podium, or just off it”, the 30-year-old said at the press conference. “It’s an entirely different feeling.”

Another thing that was new with Watabe on the past weekend was a palpable confidence, a backbone of steel that he displayed especially when it was time to sprint for the podium results. An exercise that was almost doomed to fail when he had to undergo it in the past, had Watabe emerge on top of everybody else in the bigger pursuing groups twice on the past weekend. “The only difference is my approach.”, he explained. “I have a different self-confidence after last season and I know I can go for it.”

Paired with his trademark kindness that showed when he helped “little sister” Miyazaki with Japanese - English translations in both press conferences, an actually quite challenging situation he mastered with a lot of humour, Akito Watabe remains an outstanding figure on the Nordic Combined World Cup, inside and out.