Akito Watabe began his international career in 2005 in the B-World Cup of Nordic Combined - the later Continental Cup - and took part in the Junior World Championship in 2005 in Rovaniemi , Finland , where he reached 50th place in the sprint and eighth with the team. A year later at the Junior World Championships in Kranj , Slovenia , he was able to secure the silver medal in the sprint and in the Gunderson competition he came in seventh place. With the team he was able to reach eleventh place. With these good results he was able to recommend himself for the Olympic Games in Turin and was also included in the squad for the Olympic Games. In the sprint, he finished 19th. At the home World Cup in Sapporo , he made his debut in the Nordic Combined World Cup and was able to confirm his achievements with a place in the World Cup points. In the following two winters, he was hardly or not used in the World Cup. In Hakuba , his home country , he achieved his only two podium finishes in the B World Cup on February 17 and 18, 2008, when he finished second in both the mass start and the sprint.
In the World Cup season 2008/09 Watabe was able to slowly establish himself in the World Cup team and at the end of the World Cup winter he finished 38th with 97 points together with Georg Hettich . He was also allowed to take part in the Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec , Slovenia , where he won the gold medal in the team with Yūsuke Minato , Taihei Katō and Norihito Kobayashi . After 1993 and 1995, a Japanese relay team was able to win a gold medal at a Nordic World Ski Championships. In the following season 2009/10 Watabe was able to improve on the previous year and finally finished 18th in the overall World Cup with 285 points together with David Kreiner . When Eric Frenzel won in Seefeld on January 30, 2010, he was third on the podium for the first time. At the Olympic Games in Vancouver he was able to take ninth place in the individual on the large hill and 21st place on the normal hill. With the team it was only enough for sixth place. With eleventh place in the overall World Cup, he was able to confirm his achievements from the previous year in the 2010/11 season . At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo , he secured fifth place in the individual on the normal hill and with the team he was fifth on the large hill and sixth on the normal hill.
Akito Watabe achieved his breakthrough in the world elite in the 2011/12 season. During the season he was able to win a total of four individual races. He celebrated the first victory of his career on February 5, 2012 in Val di Fiemme in front of Mikko Kokslien and Bill Demong . He celebrated his other victories on February 18, 2012 in Klingenthal , on February 26, 2012 in Liberec and on March 9, 2012 in Oslo. He ran on the podium four more times. With these results he secured second place in the overall World Cup behind Jason Lamy Chappuis . In the following season he could not celebrate a victory, but was able to secure a podium position six times and reached third place in the overall World Cup behind the winner Eric Frenzel and the second Jason Lamy Chappuis. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, he had to be content with fourth place in the individual on the large hill, in the relay and in the team sprint. In the individual on the normal hill he finished ninth.
In the Olympic season Watabe was able to celebrate a place on the podium five times before the Olympics. At the Olympic Games he secured the silver medal from the normal hill behind Eric Frenzel. After the Olympic Games, he was able to celebrate the Gunderson competition on March 15, 2014 at the World Cup dress rehearsal in Falun, ahead of Jørgen Graabak and Alessandro Pittin, and thus his fifth World Cup victory. In the overall World Cup of the 2013/14 season , he secured third place behind Eric Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek . At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, he took sixth place in the team and in the team jumping and seventh place in the individual on the large and normal hill. After the Nordic World Ski Championships, he was able to achieve his sixth and seventh World Cup victory. On March 6, 2015, he won in Lahti ahead of Johannes Rydzek and Fabian Rießle and on March 14, 2015 in Oslo, ahead of Johannes Rydzek and Alessandro Pittin. Behind Eric Frenzel, Watabe took second place in the overall ranking of the 2014/15 season . He was able to achieve this placement in the following 2015/16 season .
After Watabe scored his first win of the season at the last World Cup before the 2017 World Championships in Lahti , he started as one of the top favorites in Lahti. There Watabe won his first World Championship medal in an individual competition with silver in the individual competition on the large hill and was also able to win bronze in the team sprint with his brother Yoshito . At the following World Cup in Oslo he won his ninth World Cup and was ultimately third in the overall World Cup. At the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang , he won the silver medal on the normal hill and again behind Eric Frenzel, just like four years before . In the 2017/18 World Cup season , Watabe won eight World Cup competitions and was ultimately the overall World Cup winner for the first time.
His second Grand Prix victory reached Watabe at Gundersen competition on the large hill in Oberstdorf in August 2018. He could This placement while in winter never reach, but belonged nevertheless constant best in the world, so that it overall in the season 2018/19 to five podium places placed second behind Jarl Magnus Riiber , making him the eighth time in a row on the podium of the overall World Cup. At the 2019 World Championships in Seefeld , Watabe just missed the medal ranks both in the team and in the team sprint as fourth, but was able to take bronze in the individual on the normal hill.
Japan
Val di Fiemme
Klingenthal
Liberec
Oslo
Falun
Lahti
Seefeld
