The Japanese star made it back-to-back World Cup victories in the Norwegian capital after he won on home snow in Sapporo on February 11.

The Sapporo World Cup, however, did not feature the dominant German trio of Johannes Rydzek, Eric Frenzel and Fabian Rießle who won the opening 17 competitions of the season between them.

All three returned today but it was Watabe who came out on top, clinching the King's Cup which is awarded for victories in Oslo.

The prize, which the Japanese has now won three times, was presented by Norway's monarch King Harald.

Watabe's triumph came after he finished seventh in the ski jumping leg, after a distance of 123.5 metres gave him 111.3 points.

He started the cross-country 34 seconds behind ski jumping winner Franz-Josef Rehrl of Austria, who jumped 131m for 119.9 points.

Watabe won a sprint finish against defending World Cup champion Frenzel, the ninth best ski jumper, to win in 23min 48.8sec.

Frenzel clocked 23:49.2 for silver as Germany's Bjoern Kircheisen edged Rydzek for bronze, timed at 24:02.9.

Rehrl drifted out of contention on the ski and came home 36th.

It means that newly crowned quadruple world champion Rydzek now leads the overall standings with 1,440 points with just three races to go.

Sochi 2014 Olympic normal hill/10 kilometres champion Frenzel is just six points behind in second place, with Rießle sitting third on 989.

The next leg of the season will also be in Norway, in Trondheim on March 15.