Greatest thrills for Hailey native Graham Watanabe? He'd probably tell you that being a quick and crafty midfielder for Wood River High School's back-to-back boys' state soccer championship teams in 1998 and 1999 ranks high on the list.
When Watanabe's snowboarding competition career comes to an end, the 5-6, 150-pound member of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation's Olympic Development Team might also look back on Friday's men's snowboardcross race at Gifu-Gujo, Japan, as a major moment in his life.
Capturing his second World Cup victory on a 750-meter course with 17 obstacles, the 25-year-old Watanabe kept his mistakes to a minimum and won the sixth Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup SBX competition of the season.
"It was my day in my home country. My parents come from Japan so I kind of felt the power," Watanabe said afterward. "It's an honor for me to win here. The whole season I was riding pretty good but always had some tiny mistakes in the semi-finals. That was different today."
Watanabe beat 58 other men including current World Cup leader Stian Sivertzen of Norway, who finished second in the final heat. Alex Pullin of Australia was third and Stefano Pozzolini of Italy fourth. The next American was Shaun Palmer of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., in seventh, and Maine's Seth Wescott was ninth.
It was the first World Cup victory in four years for Watanabe, who was the first American man to win a World Cup snowboardcross and also was on the 2006 Olympic team.
The 2000 Wood River High School graduate and U.S. Snowboarding "B" teamer last won a World Cup SBX at Valle Nevado, Chile, on Sept. 17, 2004. That was a surprise victory, since Watanabe had joined his friend Nate Galpin on a trip to Chile and jumped into the race and actually posted the victory.
Now Watanabe has established himself in SBX after starting his national snowboarding career in alpine racing eight years ago. Friday's race in Japan was his fifth of the six-race season and his first 1,000-point-winning effort.
He logged a pair of fifths for 450 points each when the World Cup SBX season opened Sept. 26 and 29, 2007 at Valle Nevado. He didn't compete at Leysin, Switzerland, Feb. 1 but was sixth Feb. 15, again the top Yank, at Korea's Sungwoo Resort, which is the site of the 2009 Snowboard World Championships.
After six races Watanabe has 2,450 points to rank fourth overall, the top American by 1,130 points and five places over Shaun Palmer. Norway's Sivertzen leads the standings with one win, two seconds and 3,600 points. France's Pierre Vaultier (3,270) and Austria's Mario Fuchs (2,820) are second and third overall.
Sivertzen, second to fast starter Watanabe in the semi-finals and final Friday, said, "It was some tough riding today. Especially in the finals I had to fight for my position. Therefore I couldn't catch up to Graham."
Neither could reigning World Cup overall SBX king Drew Neilson of Canada, who was third behind Watanabe and Sivertzen in the semis.
Fuchs was fifth and Vaultier eighth in Friday's finals race in Japan. There were 30 women and 59 men competing from 19 nations. Remaining on the SBX schedule are races March 7-9 at Stoneham, Quebec, and World Cup Finals March 14-16 at Valamelenco, Italy.
Watanabe's 2,450 World Cup SBX points this year come close to the total points he amassed in his three previous seasons.
The son of Scott Watanabe, vice president of Ketchum's Scott Motorsports, Graham placed 11th overall in the World Cup SBX standings last winter with 910 points, the third American. He was 36th with 620 points in 2006 and in 20th place with 1,310 points in 2005.
Graham Watanabe reacts to winning Friday?s World Cup snowboardcross race in Japan, his second career World Cup win.
