Nathalie Armbruster is still annoyed that the Nordic combined athletes will not be able to take part in the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in February.
“It really, really hurts,” said the overall World Cup winner in the “Eurosport” interview. She expressed sharp criticism of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and described the situation “that women still do not have equal rights in the 21st century” as “a huge mess.”
The combined athletes, who only held their first World Cup in 2020, will be left out of the 2026 Winter Games. With a view to the 2030 Olympics in France, it is currently unclear whether the combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing will still be part of the competition program. On the one hand, the IOC calls for gender equality, but on the other hand, the rings organization criticizes the strong performance gap: Only a few nations, especially Germany and Norway, are consistently among the world’s best. The World Ski Association FIS counters that the numbers of participating athletes and nations have been increasing for years.
Armbruster said she wanted to “fight and fight” until the IOC took a look. The field of combined athletes has “increased extremely” in recent years. She hopes to be able to show by the next decision that women “deserve to be at the Olympics.” A decision for 2030 should be made after the Winter Games in Italy.
On December 5th, the women around Armbruster start the World Cup season in Trondheim, Norway. Personally, the defending champion from the Black Forest, who has now finished school with her Abitur, doesn’t want to set herself too big goals. After her successful preseason and the increased expectations that came with it, “it would be cool if I could fight for the top three positions in the overall World Cup again.”