After her rapid rise, Nathalie Armbruster is starting the new Nordic combined season with great ambitions. In the balancing act between competitive sport and school, she can make history again.
Classwork, dance course, driving license test – Nathalie Armbruster is actually a completely normal 17-year-old. Actually. Because the Freudenstadt resident is going into the new World Cup season for Nordic combined women on Friday (from 12 p.m. in the Sportschau live ticker) in Lillehammer, Norway, as a great German hope.
Last winter, Armbruster experienced a climb that was hardly thought possible. At her World Cup debut in Lillehammer almost exactly a year ago, she became the first German athlete ever to reach the podium in the Nordic Combined. By the end of the season she was on the podium five more times before crowning her outstanding first World Cup season at the World Championships in Planica with silver in the individual and mixed doubles.
Between the ski jump and the school desk
Armbruster is the new face of Nordic combined – at least in Germany. “It’s still very strange. A few years ago that was so far away“She said in the summer during pre-season preparation on the Sportschau podcast.”Jenny Nowak in particular has always been the pioneer of Nordic combined. Over the course of the season, many people said to me: ‘Now you are the platoon leader of the Nordic combined women’. Being the youngest to take on this task was strange at first. But I also have a lot of fun.”
Armbruster also brings fun into the competition. Despite her young age, she always appears with a smile. She enjoys traveling around the world, competing with the best and representing her sport, which is currently anything but easy, as best as she can. The athlete from SV-SZ Kniebis also goes to school. During the preparation for the season – in addition to a student exchange and driving license lessons – we went to jump training and back by car three times a week. “An organizational masterpiece“, which is bearing fruit. She won the title at the German championships in Klingenthal in October.
“It was all like a dream”
Now Armbruster and the German World Cup team are returning to the place where it all began a year ago: Lillehammer. Her debut in December 2022 initially did not have a good star. Shortly before the first race she suffered from a cold. “I thought, ‘This can’t be true. I was devastated“, remembers Armbruster. A little later she achieved what no German combined athlete had ever achieved before her: a World Cup podium. “It was all like a dream. I didn’t realize that I was writing German history.”
After the successes last winter, she could now make history again at the start in Lillehammer, where two Gundersen competitions over five kilometers are scheduled, and win the first World Cup victory for a Nordic combined woman. At the venue of the 1994 Winter Olympics, she is one of the favorites to start. However, there is one problem and that is Gyda Westvold Hansen. The exceptional Norwegian athlete won every one of the ten World Cup races last season and also took gold at the World Cup.
Sportschau winter sports podcast, June 22nd, 2023 1:00 p.m
Who will stop Westvold Hansen?
This winter, the 21-year-old overall World Cup winner will once again be the big favorite. This is another reason why Armbruster holds back from declaring war. First of all, it would be “great“To basically confirm the results from last season. In addition, after the summer you never know with certainty where you stand in terms of performance.”Before the first competition of the season you are always a little unsure about where you stand in international comparison and whether what you have trained in the last few weeks was right.“
Armbruster also has to focus on her high school diploma, which is due next year. In contrast to the other athletes, she has to coordinate her training with the school. “Life at the limit“, as she jokingly puts it. She has already proven that Armbruster can manage the balancing act between two worlds. Perhaps it is precisely this carefree attitude that drives her to achieve top performance on the jump and in the cross-country ski trail. She continues to be a “completely normal student“and look”that I stand on two feet in life.“
“The IOC’s decision is zero point zero understandable”
However, that doesn’t stop them from taking a clear stand. Last season, the Nordic combined women vented their anger at the fact that they were not allowed to compete in the 2026 Olympic Games with various protest actions – such as crossed skis before the start or painted beards.
Participation in the Olympics would also be a good thing for Armbruster.childhood-dream“Which is why she doesn’t skimp on criticism either.”The IOC’s decision is completely understandable. Money just rules the world. This is incredibly sad and unfair to us.“But Armbruster also knows that at 17 she still has her career ahead of her. If her Olympic dream comes true, she would be at her best age at the 2030 Games at 24.
Armbruster now the hunted
First of all, full concentration is on the tasks at hand – whether school or sport. As far as the latter is concerned, she will now often be the hunted one. She also has to defend her status as second overall in the World Cup. That it “After such a successful season, it’s not easy to maintain that“Women’s national coach Florian Aichinger also knows. But she has the numerous media appointments after the World Cup.”Well managed – I’m excited to see how the season goes for her.”
Lillehammer could hardly be better suited to kick off given their historic debut last year. And this time Nathalie Armbruster is also healthy.
The Nordic combined team in Lillehammer
Women: Nathalie Armbruster (SV-SZ Kniebis), Magdalena Burger (SC Partenkirchen), Maria Gerboth (WSV Schmiedefeld), Jenny Nowak (SC Sohland), Svenja Würth (SV Baiersbronn)
Men: Manuel Faißt (SV Baiersbronn), Vinzenz Geiger, (SC Oberstdorf), Johannes Rydzek (SC Obersdorf), Julian Schmid (SC Oberstdorf), Wendlin Thannheimer (SC Oberstdorf), Terence Weber (SSV Geyer), Fabian Rießle (SZ Breitnau )