Armbruster aims to seal first title as women celebrate large hill milestone in Oslo
Mar 12, 2025·Nordic Combined
Oslo will witness another milestone in the development of Nordic Combined this weekend with the first women’s large hill competitions in the Viessmann FIS World Cup.
The Holmenkollbakken HS134 will host the final two events of the women’s World Cup season - a Gundersen on Saturday, 15 March and a Compact event on Sunday.
The men will have the same program in Oslo over the weekend, as Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) – fresh from winning three golds and a bronze at the World Championships in Trondheim – aims to move closer to a record sixth overall title.
While Riiber is seeking to go clear of the great Eric Frenzel (GER), who also won five Crystal Globes, there could be another historic first with Nathalie Armbruster on the verge of becoming the first German woman to claim a Nordic Combined overall World Cup title.
The 19-year-old picked up a silver medal in the Mixed Team event in Trondheim but had a disappointing championships in the individual events, finishing sixth in the Mass Start and eighth in the Gundersen.
That contrasted with her form on the World Cup circuit, where she has claimed her first three wins, been on the podium in eight of the 12 events and not finished outside the top four since the first competition of the season – a sixth place - in Lillehammer.
Armbruster is ranked fourth in the jumping standings but struggled on the HS102 normal hill in Trondheim, scoring 110 points from an 89.0m jump in the Mass Start before an 87.0m jump for 88.3 points in the Gundersen left her in 20th place and too much time to make up in the cross-country to contend for a medal.
“It was a little bit strange,” Armbruster reflected afterwards. “I was very slow on the in-run, I struggled with my speed and I never usually struggle with that.
"I don’t know, some hills you like more, some you like less. I was really relaxed before the competition. I didn’t feel that much pressure anymore but it’s a little bit strange to describe the feeling when you don’t like a hill.
“But the World Championships in Trondheim have been unique and I will have a lot of great memories and experiences, and also a silver medal (below),” she added.
Armbruster could make greater memories this weekend as she seeks to break Norway’s dominance of the first three full years of women’s World Cup competition.
Gyda Westwold Hansen won back-to-back titles in 2021-22 (winning seven of the eight events) and 2022-23 (winning all 10) before compatriot Ida Marie Hagen succeeded her as the queen of the sport last season, winning nine of the 15 competitions.
But after Hagen won the first seven this season, a disqualification in Seefeld (AUT) – costing her points in two events – and a fall in Otepää (EST) saw her slip to third in the overall standings heading into her home events in Oslo, 133 points behind Armbruster, who holds a 102-point lead over Haruka Kasai (JPN) at the top.
“My season was a lot better than expected,” said Armbruster, who finished fifth overall last season and has still been studying while competing this winter.
After winning a historic first women’s ‘Triple’ in Seefeld in early February, Armbruster can expect fierce competition as the women tackle a large hill in World Cup competition for the first time.
Hagen won in Holmenkollen last year and will even more determined at a venue where her parents help to host the event, while a rejuvenated Westwold Hansen (below) – who won two golds and a silver in Trondheim including a third straight Gundersen crown – has rediscovered her best form.
Japanese twins Yuna and Haruka Kasai, having won World gold and bronze in the Mass Start, are ranked second and third in the best jumper standings behind Maria Gerboth (GER) and are also likely to relish the challenge of the HS134 hill.
“It is the next step for the development of the women’s programme,” said FIS race director Lasse Ottesen. “It will contribute a lot and hopefully make it easier in future to find good locations and fill the calendar even more easily, with the women also able to compete on large hills.”
Riiber targets final flourish at home
While Oslo will see the conclusion of the women’s World Cup for this season, the men still have two further large hill Gundersens to come after this weekend in Lahti (FIN) on 21 and 22 March.
The destination of the Crystal Globe may still be in the balance then, although Riiber will be hoping to put further daylight between himself and chief rival Vinzenz Geiger (GER) on home snow in Oslo.
Riiber’s form since announcing that he will retire at the end of the season has grown progressively stronger – he has won four of his eight individual events over the past six weeks, including two World Championship golds, and finished second in the other four.
But Geiger, who won three of the last four World Cup events before Trondheim and six overall this season, compared to Riiber’s five, will be intent on trying to spoil the Norwegian’s final farewell to his home fans and take the fight for the overall title to Lahti.
Riiber leads Geiger by 81 points in the standings with four competitions left, starting with Saturday’s Gundersen. Julian Schmid (GER) is 275 points adrift in third place.
The action in Oslo will get under way with a provisional competition round for both women and men on Friday, with ski jumping for both Saturday’s Gundersens and Sunday’s Compact events starting at 09:00 CET (women) and 09:45 (men).
The cross-country races are scheduled for 16:00 (women) and 16:30 CET (men) on Saturday, with the order reversed on Sunday, 16 March. The men’s 7.5km race will start at 15:15 and the women’s 5km will conclude the weekend’s action at 16:20 CET.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Oslo will be the first time the women have competed on a large hill in the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup since they first started competing in the 2020-21 season
The Holmenkollen mountain will host the final two events of this season’s women’s World Cup - a Gundersen on Saturday and a Compact event on Sunday
Nathalie Armbruster is aiming to become the first German to win the overall title after Norwegian duo Gyda Westwold Hansen (2021-22 and 2022-23) and Ida Marie Hagen (2023-24)
Until this season, Norway had won 32 of the 34 previous women’s World Cup competitions, via Westvold Hansen (21), Hagen (9) and Mari Leinan-Lund (2)
The only exceptions were Tara Geraghty-Moats (USA), who won the inaugural women’s World Cup event in Ramsau in December 2020, and Anju Nakamura (JPN), who won in Schonach in March 2022
Although Ida Marie Hagen has won eight of the 12 World Cup events this season, Nathalie Armbruster (GER) has won three of the last five to lead the standings by 102 points, with Yuna Kasai (JPN) also earning her maiden World Cup victory
Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) is aiming to win a record sixth overall title. He currently shares the record with Eric Frenzel (GER), who won five in a row from 2012-13 to 2016-17
Riiber leads Vinzenz Geiger (GER) by 81 points in the standings with four competitions left. After a Gundersen on Saturday and Compact on Sunday, there are two more events in Lahti (FIN) on 21 and 22 March, to conclude the season
