‘We are not machines’ – Pressure mounts as Nordic Combined faces momentous 2026

With the cancellation of this weekend’s Viessmann FIS World Cup events in Schonach (GER), an enforced break over the New Year allows the Nordic Combined family to reflect on a tumultuous year and contemplate a potentially momentous one ahead for the sport.

2025 saw the retirement of the man widely regarded as the greatest Nordic Combiner of all time – Norwegian legend Jarl Magnus Riiber – and the crowning of two new World Cup overall champions in German duo Nathalie Armbruster and Vinzenz Geiger.

That ‘changing of the guard’ moment for the men, following Riiber’s record run of five Crystal Globes in six seasons, has created an intriguing 2025-26 season to date.

Austria has been the dominant men’s nation so far, taking 10 of 18 podium places and winning five of the six completed competitions, via resurgent former champion Johannes Lamparter and Thomas Rettenegger’s emergence as a genuine contender – his improved cross-country form complementing consistently strong jumping.

But Geiger’s astonishing win in the most recent event, a Gundersen in Ramsau (AUT) on 20 December, suggests the next, pivotal phase of the World Cup season – men and women both compete in eight events each before the Winter Olympics – will be even more hotly contested, with Jens Luraas Oftebro (NOR) and Stefan Rettenegger (AUT) also rediscovering top form with podiums in Ramsau.  

"I didn't plan this at all, it's unbelievable,” said Geiger, who missed the opening two events in Ruka (FIN) with a foot injury, finished 19^th and eighth on his comeback in Trondheim and 13^th on day one in Ramsau before pipping Oftebro in a sprint finish to the Gundersen. “To end the year like this, after it was so tough the last few weeks, is amazing."

If Geiger’s return to the form which brought him seven wins last season on his way to succeeding Riiber as overall champion bodes well for his prospects of retaining his Olympic Normal Hill individual title in February, compatriot Armbruster also had reasons to be grateful as a breakthrough year for the 19-year-old reached its conclusion.

Having taken Ida Marie Hagen’s title as overall champion (above) last season, Armbruster started the season with two podium finishes - a second and third place - in Trondheim.

But speaking before those events, the German alluded to the increased expectation and pressure – some self-imposed - that comes with having usurped the ‘Queen of Nordic Combined’ in dramatic fashion last season, starting in Seefeld (AUT) where Hagen was disqualified and Armbruster won her first two of three individual World Cup events.

“It is a lot of pressure,” she told FIS Race Talk. “For me this season is very special; everyone is expecting me to be on the podium more and to win a World Cup again. But we are not machines.

That pressure was evident in the third competition of this season, a Mass Start in Ramsau. On a punishing cross-country course, Armbruster – trying to keep pace with front-runner Hagen - collapsed on an uphill section, fell forwards and was unable to get up for nearly a minute before eventually resuming, finishing over 1:30 behind her rival.

“I was so shocked,” she said. “My body totally shut down. I was conscious I was falling down but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

While that 12^th-place finish cost her vital World Cup points, mercifully Armbruster had recovered sufficiently by the next day to take third place in a Gundersen, leaving her 102 points behind 2023-24 champion Hagen in the standings.

But given Hagen led by 135 points heading to Seefeld for the first women’s ‘Triple’ last season, what transpired there will ensure no-one takes anything for granted as they look forward to three forthcoming competitions in Otepää (EST) and two in Oberhof (GER) before returning to the Austrian resort for another ‘Triple’ at the end of January. 

Armbruster, who celebrates her 20^th birthday on 2 January, has allowed herself to focus solely on competing this season, having combined her sporting endeavours with completing her high-school studies on her way to that first Crystal Globe.

“Last season it was too much for me,” she said. “On some days I was like, ‘how can I do that and manage both - being a high-level athlete and good at school as well?’ I wanted to be as good in school as I have been in sport and I put myself under so much pressure there as well.

“I was studying a lot and had a huge lack of sleep. I still don’t know how I managed it, but I am so glad now it is over and I can just focus on sport, not just training and competing but so much in between.”

As one of the faces of women’s Nordic Combined, Armbruster also balances media, sponsorship and ambassadorial commitments with a busy sporting life.

But after a hectic January, the women will have a month’s break from the World Cup circuit while the men prepare for the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, with two individual events and one team event being staged in Val di Fiemme from 11-19 February.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to decide in the spring of 2026 whether Nordic Combined – including the women - will be part of the next two Winter Games in 2030 and 2034.   

Now into their fifth full World Cup season – after just one event was possible during the Covid-affected inaugural year of 2020-21 – Armbruster is not alone in believing the ever-improving depth on the women’s circuit, which this season has seen Alexa Brabec (USA) and 17-year-old Katharina Gruber (AUT) make major breakthroughs, deserves to be rewarded with a place alongside the men at the next Winter Olympics in the French Alps.   

“I hope they will see our passion and how our level has increased and the high level we are at right now,” Armbruster added.

That view is endorsed by Johannes Lamparter (AUT), the men’s 2022-23 champion and current overall leader, who has won three of the six completed events this season. 

“The decision of the IOC that is coming is always there in the back of our minds,” he said. “We want to be in the Olympics but also there together with the women.

“If you compare it to Ski Jumping, that also started with the men, then the women are getting there and to a really high level as well. It’s the same with Nordic Combined – the discipline is growing and getting better.

“There is absolutely no reason why they should not be able to be in the Olympics. Everyone in our Nordic Combined family hope we are both there in 2030.”