Akito Watabe enjoys perfect day in Finland

The Japanese 29-year-old put in a supreme display in the cross-country and was never in danger from the chasing pack, finishing 31.7 seconds ahead of Finland's Eero Hirvonen.

"It's a really perfect day for me," he said. "It was a really good jump and I finished first in the race; my skiing was pretty perfect as well.

"I kept my own rhythm and pace all the way and I'm really lucky the big group didn't catch me up. I'm really happy to have won."

A silver medallist at Sochi in 2014, Watabe suffered a chest injury after a training accident but was still able to lead the way in both the jump and the cross-country.

In much improved conditions from the opening day, Watabe was able to set the winning jump with a fine distance of 142.5metres with Maxime Laheurte and Antoine Gerard the only other competitors to break the 140m mark.

Home favourite Hirvonen started the cross-country race in ninth place but found energy at the end to break away from the pack and finish second, much to the delight of the crowd.

And the 21-year-old revealed he was content with his overall performance despite a disappointing jump which left him scraping in the cross-country.

He said: "I'm very happy with my race because my jump wasn't so perfect and maybe I'm a little bit angry at myself for the jump.

"But my skiing was good and maybe I had a bit of extra power going up the hill. It was a good race after all."

Elsewhere, Johannes Rydzek recovered from an early fall in the cross-country race to fight back and finish third but was pipped to second place by Hirvonen in the final lap.

Sportsbeat 2017