Nathalie Armbruster, just 17 years old, won the silver medal in Nordic combined at the World Championships in Planica, Slovenia.
The schoolgirl from the Black Forest gave the German women’s team their first precious metal in the young discipline at a world championship. Armbruster was only beaten by long-term winner Gyda Westvold Hansen from Norway. Haruka Kasai from Japan was third.
Armbruster, currently the best German all-rounder in ski jumping and cross-country skiing, started the race over five kilometers after a jump of 98 meters in second place, 20 seconds behind Westvold Hansen. Armbruster already knew after the jump that the Norwegian could no longer be caught. In no sport at this World Cup does an athlete dominate as clearly as in the women’s combination. Westvold Hansen also recovered from a fall in the cross-country race.
She had already won the world championship premiere of her discipline two years ago in Oberstdorf. In the past 17 World Cup races, the 20-year-old has only failed to win once – after a fall in Schonach almost a year ago.
