Watabe wins 4th straight Nordic combined World Cup event

Watabe wins 4th straight Nordic combined World Cup event

Published Feb. 8, 2018 6:59 p.m. ET

HAKUBA, Japan (AP) Akito Watabe of Japan won his fourth straight Nordic combined World Cup event on Saturday to enhance his position as a gold medal contender at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Watabe jumped 130.5 meters and finished the 10-kilometer race in 24 minutes, 14.6 seconds, 1:12.6 ahead of Norway's Jan Schmid. Germany's Manuel Faisst was third.

The 29-year-old Sochi silver medalist, who will represent Japan in his fourth straight Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, extended his season wins to five - the most he has won in a single season on the World Cup circuit.

Watabe became only the second athlete to sweep the three-day Seefeld Triple event in Austria last month. He has surged to the top of the World Cup standings with the results from Japan and Austria, adding to a win earlier this season in Finland.

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Schmid caught Faisst on the last steep uphill and crossed the finish line 10 seconds ahead of the German skier to claim his third runner-up finish of the season.

Watabe has 845 points in the overall standings, 60 ahead of Schmid heading into Sunday's final World Cup event before the Olympics.

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