Watabe makes history with perfect Nordic Combined Triple

The Japanese star became only the second athlete in history to emerged victorious on all three days of competition, following in the footsteps of Eric Frenzel.

The 29-year-old dominated the third and final day in Austria, cruising to victory over the 15km distance in a time of 34:58.6 minutes, more than one minute clear of Norwegian Jarl Riiber, who competed the course in a time of 36:13.5.

Despite claiming to be very nervous before the final jump of the competition, Watabe still produced efforts of 104 and 103 metres, amassing 254.1 points.

That score, along with the time advantage he had already collected from two days of dominance, allowed Watabe to start a comfortable 48 seconds ahead of Riiber.

Riiber had jumped 106 metres twice but was left with far too much to do as the Norwegian comfortably finished second.

And following his victory, Watable toasted the success of the three-day competition with the Olympic Winter Games just a fortnight away.

He said: "It is a perfect week – I'm really happy with my performance and everything in this weekend. I'm really happy to bring this feeling in the World Cup."

Fabian Riessle secured a dramatic third spot as he outsprinted teammate Vinzenz Geiger as the final podium place was settled with a photo finish.

The overall World Cup standings sees Watabe on 745 points, 45 clear of Norwegian Jan Schmid, who came seventh in Seefeld. Joergen Graabak completes the top three with 528 points.