Nathalie Armbruster’s career is actually just beginning. The 17-year-old from the Black Forest celebrated her 17th birthday on January 2nd and is in eleventh grade. However, the current season of the Nordic Combined went so fast that she is one of the favorites for a medal at the World Championships in Planica. “What has happened in the past few months feels completely unreal,” she tells the Tagesspiegel.
Armbruster was the first German woman to stand on the podium at a World Cup in this sport – she did it eight times in a total of ten World Cups. Almost three weeks ago, the student started at the Junior World Championships in Canada and won silver in singles and mixed.
And now the high point of your career so far is coming up. “Many athletes have told me that you just run around enchanted all day.” She already felt that at the opening ceremony, when she was allowed to carry the German flag together with Vinzenz Geiger.
In 2021, the combined women celebrated their World Cup premiere
Nathalie Armbruster symbolizes the development that women have taken in this sport in recent years. In 2021 in Oberstdorf, the Nordic Combined women were allowed to compete at a Nordic World Ski Championships for the first time ever. The requirements to be among the best in the world have increased. In the past, a jump of around 85 meters was enough to have good prerequisites for a place on the podium, says Armbruster. “Now you have to land near the so-called K-Point”, which is about ten meters further.
Because the structures are also becoming more professional and more and more nations are developing female athletes in this sport towards the top of the world, there is much to be said for a secure future. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) caused a shock last year when it announced that there would be no Nordic Combined competitions at the upcoming Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo 2026.
It is incomprehensible that in the 21st century we women have to fight to be allowed to compete.
Nathalie Armbruster about their fight off the track
“We were at a summer festival that day, which was actually a nice occasion,” Armbruster recalls. “Of course, this news hit me hard, I burst into tears at first.” Before the competitions this season, the athletes protest against this decision by crossing their poles before cross-country skiing.
The athletes “are denied a childhood dream”
The IOC’s decision goes far beyond the disappointment “that we are denied this childhood dream,” as Armbruster says. In concrete terms, it is also about the fact that sports that are not on the Olympic agenda are entitled to far less funding. And of course it’s all about equality. “It is incomprehensible that in the 21st century, as women, we have to fight to be allowed to compete.”
Specializing in one of the two sub-disciplines of Nordic combined, i.e. training in either cross-country skiing or ski jumping, is out of the question for Armbruster. “I love this sport so much because it combines both disciplines.” Accordingly, she does not want to let up with her fellow combatants in fighting for recognition.
“She is a huge stroke of luck for us,” says national coach Florian Aichinger about Armbruster’s special role as a shooting star and vehement fighter. “Their cheerfulness and lightness reflect how we want to act.”
With all the challenges that Armbruster has to overcome as the frontwoman of the German team and a vehement campaigner for equal rights, it is of course to be feared that the youthful lightness will be lost. Especially since the hardest school years are now approaching. “There are already many who have the feeling that I grew up quickly,” says Armbruster. “But my family makes sure that I can still be a child.” Even if that will probably have to wait until the days of the Nordic World Ski Championships are over.
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