Watabe has ended the season in fine form, having earned his first win of the World Cup just a week ago in Lahti.

His main rival on that occasion was Johannes Rydzek, double gold medallist at the 2015 Nordic Ski World Championships, and the two men battled each other again in the Norwegian capital.

Rydzek had performed well on the ski jumping section of the event to have an 82 seconds advantage over the Japanese ahead of the 15 kilometres cross-country race, with both men trailing Maxime Laheurte of France.

Laheurte's lead was whittled down by a large group, including the likes of Frenzel, Rydzek and Watabe, with the latter two broke away from the field to fight it out for the victory

Watabe eventually saw of Rydzek's challenge to win in 38min 05.1sec, while Rydzek held on to claim second in 38:14.1.

Eric Frenzel claimed the overall Nordic Combined World Cup title ©AFP/Getty Images



Italy's Alessandro Pittin completed the podium in 38:23.7, with Frenzel a further four seconds adrift to take fourth in 38:27.7.

The German, nevertheless, completed the season as the World Cup winner for the third consecutive time, having accumulated a score of 945 points.

Watabe's end of season form helped him finish as the runner up with 777, while world champion Rydzek was third on 731 points.

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