Armbruster dons yellow bib as Riiber resumes record pursuit in Otepää
Feb 04, 2025·Nordic Combined
Nathalie Armbruster (GER) will compete in the overall leader’s yellow bib for the first time in Otepää (EST) this week for the final three competitions in the Viessmann FIS Nordic Combined World Cup before the World Championships begin later this month.
The 19-year-old claimed her first and second World Cup wins in Seefeld (AUT) after the disqualification of defending champion Ida Marie Hagen (NOR) in last Saturday’s Compact for a suit infringement during the ski jumping.
That proved even more costly for Hagen when it also ruled her out of the Gundersen, the third and final part of the ‘Triple’, meaning she scored no points in two events.
Armbruster claimed 200 points - double the usual 100 for a victory - by winning the ‘Triple’ and after starting the weekend 135 points behind Hagen, she left Seefeld with a lead of 105 points heading into the final five events of the World Cup season.
That means that even if Hagen were to win all five remaining competitions, Armbruster could still pip her to the overall title if she finishes at least on the podium in each one.
“It is crazy,” the teenager said after becoming the first ever winner of the women’s Triple. “It will be a completely different feeling to wear the yellow bib in Otepää.”
Having seen her bid to overhaul compatriot Gyda Westvold Hansen’s record of 14 consecutive individual World Cup wins end at 11 in Seefeld, Hagen will no doubt be doubly determined to reassert her previous dominance in Otepää, where her remarkable run of success began this time last year.
The Estonian ski resort is also the venue where two-time champion Westvold Hansen last won a World Cup competition – a Mass Start - on 9 February 2024.
After a PCR on Thursday, another Mass Start - the only format where the cross-country comes before the jumping - will kick off proceedings this Friday, 7 February, with a Gundersen to follow on Saturday and a Compact to conclude the weekend on Sunday, 9 February.
The men will have the same competition schedule over the three days, with defending champion Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) confirming he will compete in Otepää in his pursuit of a record-breaking sixth overall title.
The 27-year-old had said he wasn’t sure if he would complete the rest of the World Cup season or just go “all-in” for the World Championships on home snow in Trondheim, after announcing last week that he will retire at the end of the winter as he battles with the effects of Crohn’s disease.
But after winning a Mass Start and finishing second in both the Compact and a thrilling Gundersen in Seefeld, Riiber was upbeat about his improved physical condition at the end of three days of gruelling competition.
“This weekend I showed I have taken a big step in the cross-country part, although it’s a bit similar to other races earlier this season in that I was getting a bit weaker with each competition," Riiber added. "This is something I have to improve for Otepää, hopefully.”
Although his closest rival Vinzenz Geiger (GER) pipped him to victory in the ‘Triple’ by just 0.2 seconds in a sprint finish on Sunday for his fourth win of the season, across the three days in Seefeld Riiber earned 275 points to Geiger’s 266 to emerge with a lead of 81 in the overall standings, with Julian Schmid (GER) a further 124 points back in third.
While those three and the other leading contenders already know they will be at the World Championships, this weekend also offers a final chance for those on the fringes for the major countries to stake a late claim.
Norway have this week added Andreas Skoglund – third in the Best Skier standings this season - and Simen Tiller, who had three top-18 finishes in Seefeld, to their men’s team, alongside Riiber, Jens Luraas Oftebro and Joergen Graabak.
Marte Leinan Lund and Ingrid Laate, the 17-year-old who finished ninth in the Mass Start in Seefeld after a second place in the PCR, will also join Hagen and Westvold Hansen in the women’s team for Trondheim.
Two remaining places are still up for grabs in the Norwegian squad, while Austria and Germany also have decisions to make on the final make-up of their teams for the World Championships, with both countries having six men in the top 20 individual standings.
Germany lead the Nations Cup table in both the men’s and women’s World Cup. As well as Geiger, Schmid (third) and Manuel Faisst (ninth) are in the top 10 while veteran Johannes Rydzek (13th) – a three-time individual world champion and 2018 Olympic champion – also won in Ruka on the season’s opening weekend.
In the women’s standings, backing up overall leader Armbruster for Germany are Jenny Novak (seventh), Maria Gerboth (eighth) and Cindy Haasch (11th).
FACTS AND FIGURES
Nathalie Armbruster (GER) will wear the overall leader’s yellow bib for the first time, having replaced Ida Marie Hagen at the top of the women’s standings.
Armbruster, 19, claimed her first and second World Cup wins in Seefeld (AUT) after the disqualification of defending champion Hagen for a suit infringement.
Ida Marie Hagen (NOR) started her run of 11 straight individual World Cup wins in Otepää in February last year, winning the second and third of three events held.
The Estonian resort is also where two-time champion Gyda Westvold Hansen last won a World Cup competition, a Mass Start - also the format for the first of three events this week including a Gundersen and a Compact.
After a PCR for both on Thursday, the men will also have the same schedule as the women in Otepää, with a Mass Start on Friday, a Gundersen on Saturday and a Compact on Sunday in the final competition before the World Championships.
Defending champion Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR), despite his recent health issues, will compete in Otepää, where he won all three events last year.
Riiber leads the overall standings by 81 points from Vinzenz Geiger, despite the German collecting 200 points for winning the ‘Triple’ in Seefeld last time out.
Kristjan Ilves (EST), whose best this season was a third in Ramsau, matched his best ever World Cup result at home in Otepää last year with two second places.
