Athlete of the Week: Akito Watabe (JPN)

While Akito Watabe definitely had bigger glory moments than the past weekend, for example with his victory in Lahti, the Klingenthal competitions exemplify the Japanese veteran’s strengths to a tee: perseverance pays off and following one’s own way to success.

Saturday’s event did not go smoothly with a jump that was below of what the 32-year-old is able to show. In the race, there was not a chance competing with a bunch of the fastest guys which grace the cross-country courses in Nordic Combined. “Loud”, aggressive and massively powerful displays of cross-country prowess are not the Japanese’s style and so he had to be satisfied with rank six at the venue where he sealed his 2017/18 Overall World Cup victory.

But true to Watabe’s life motto of “being like water” and always adapt to the conditions, he doesn’t let himself be discouraged by experiences like this.

On Sunday, Watabe smartly and impressively hung on to Vinzenz Geiger and Lukas Greiderer. While Greiderer tried to match Geiger’s impressive attack on the big uphills in Klingenthal, Watabe stayed true to his own pace, followed calmly to the best of his abilities and was rewarded: a visibly tired Lukas Greiderer was no match against a last sprint attack by Watabe, so that he could claim the second place as a reward.

And also here, the Japanese’s character showed: it was the 29th second place of his career. No other athlete ever had to let one other person pass so many times but also nobody else has been able to make the best of not being the strongest of the strong quite like Akito Watabe.

Looking at the overall standings, the 32-year-old quietly climbed to the third place this season so far, the overall World Cup podium being an achievement he has repeated every single season since 2013 with the exception of 2019/20, the very image of quiet consistency himself.

With Watabe’s friendly demeanour and given how well-liked and respected the Nordic Combined “Zen Master” is among his fellow athletes, everybody is visibly happy for him when Watabe steps up and grabs the victory for once. The upcoming World Championships in Oberstdorf would be an excellent opportunity for that, given that Watabe is still missing an individual World Championship gold medal in his collection.