Nordic combined skier Akito Watabe won his first World Cup event in two seasons on Sunday, moving to within one win of equaling Kenji Ogiwara's Japan record of 19 World Cup victories.
The win at Lahti was Watabe's first since he won the season-ending individual Gundersen event in Schonach in March 2018. He finished that year as the overall Nordic combined World Cup winner with eight wins.
"I thought there was no way I'd win," Watabe said.