Watabe wins last Nordic combined World Cup event of season (The Associated Press)

Akito Watabe of Japan won the final Nordic combined World Cup event of the season Saturday, while former Olympic champion Jason Lamy Chappuis of France placed 12th in his farewell race. Watabe was only 11th after the ski jump on the large hill but made up more than a minute on the leaders in the 15-kilometer cross-country ski race to win in 38 minutes, 5.1 seconds. He shook off Johannes Rydzek of Germany with just over a kilometer to go to beat the world champion by 9 seconds. Alessandro Pittin of Italy had another strong skiing performance to finish third, despite starting more than 3 minutes behind the leaders.