Combiner Armbruster shines
17-year-old jumps and runs to World Championship silver
02/24/2023 2:33 p.m
Combined athlete Nathalie Armbruster won silver in the individual at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica, Slovenia. The 17-year-old student only had to admit defeat to the Norwegian title holder, Gyda Westvold Hansen. Bronze went to Haruka Kasai from Japan.
For the German Ski Association (DSV) it was the second medal in the title fights in Slovenia and the first ever for a combined athlete. Under the eyes of newly crowned Ski Jumping World Champion Katharina Althaus, Armbruster crowned her strong debut season, in which she had been on the podium seven times in nine World Cup races.
After jumping, all four German starters were among the top ten. In the end, Maria Gerboth finished ninth as the second best German behind Armbruster. The former Junior World Champion Jenny Nowak and Svenja Würth rounded off the strong DSV result in eleventh and 13th place.
Meanwhile, Westvold Hansen, who was also only 20 years old, didn’t show any weaknesses. After nine victories from nine World Cup races, the dominator of the winter took first place in Planica and successfully defended her title. After the title fights in Oberstdorf 2021, the combined athletes in Slovenia are only there for the second time.