After her tour de force, Nathalie Armbruster still had enough energy to celebrate silver at the World Championships. The 17-year-old combined athlete proudly showed the winning fist to the cheering ski jumpers around world champion Katharina Althaus. In the interview, she was close to tears of joy. "I have no words at the moment, it's so unbelievable, I'm almost starting to cry again," she said on ZDF. Armbruster gave the German women's team their first precious metal in the young discipline at a world championship. In Planica, Slovenia, she was only beaten by long-term winner Gyda Westvold Hansen from Norway. Haruka Kasai from Japan was third.
Cheered on by their own small fan club with the German flag, Armbruster confirmed their strong seasonal performances and celebrated success on the big World Cup stage in their first real World Cup winter. "My parents are here. That means a lot to me," said Armbruster for moral support in the valley of the hills. "Without my family, what I have achieved today would not be possible." Her home trainer with her family and other fans had also traveled all the way from Baden-Württemberg.
The eleventh grader, who appears relaxed and self-confident in Slovenia, has to master the balancing act between competitive sport and school in her everyday life. So far, the model student has been doing great, but Armbruster said: "Of course, being an athlete influences my school career. It's an unbelievable double burden. Eleventh grade is no longer kindergarten, the absences are increasing. I have to catch up on a lot."
A kind of public viewing at school, where she is asked about her sport "at every corner", does not exist this time because of the holidays. But there was still excitement at home: "My best friends and my grandmother are watching it on TV," said Armbruster on Friday. The ski jumpers Selina Freitag with a horn in her hand and gold winner Althaus with sunglasses watched enthusiastically on site.
They saw how the currently best German all-rounder in ski jumping and cross-country skiing managed a jump of 98 meters. Armbruster started the five-kilometre race 20 seconds behind Westvold Hansen. Armbruster already knew after the jump that the Norwegian could no longer be caught. In no sport at these World Championships does an athlete dominate as clearly as in the women's Nordic combined. Westvold Hansen even got over a fall in the cross-country race on Friday.
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. On that World Cup weekend in the Black Forest, Armbruster made her World Cup debut at the end of last season. She would never have dreamed that less than twelve months later she would be second in the World Championships.
