Nordic Combined in Ramsau: Armbruster collapses mid‑race but finishes; Hagen wins, Nowak best German

A dramatic incident marked the women’s Nordic Combined mass start in Ramsau. Germany’s Nathalie Armbruster, last season’s World Cup winner, kept pace early with Norway’s Ida Marie Hagen, who set a hard tempo. Around kilometer 3.2 of the 5 km cross‑country leg, Armbruster suddenly collapsed, briefly lost consciousness, and fell head‑first into the snow. No staff were immediately nearby to assist.

Later, in a tearful ZDF interview, Armbruster explained she had felt fine on the first lap but that her body suddenly “shut down.” She said she wanted to continue but “it just didn’t work anymore.” Moments later her fighting spirit returned; she refused to record a DNF and resumed racing.

Armbruster managed to finish 13th, 1:30 behind, and a few hours later took her jump, landing a solid 84.0 meters to close out the day, still classified 13th overall given the format.

Jenny Nowak was the best German in 7th place and said her form is trending upward. Ronja Loh and Trine Göpfert finished 17th and 20th, respectively. Ida Marie Hagen won the day and stretched her overall World Cup lead, with Alexa Brabec (USA) and Minja Korhonen (Finland) completing the podium.

The final event of the year follows on Saturday under the Gundersen format, with ski jumping in the morning and cross‑country in the afternoon.