Sweden's Moa Ilar claimed victory in the women's 10km individual classic at the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup in Oberhof, Germany, on January 18, 2026, beating Austria's Teresa Stadlober by just seven tenths of a second. The 28-year-old secured her third World Cup win and first in the classic discipline under bright sunshine. Norway's Karoline Groetting surprised with fifth place in her second World Cup appearance.
The race unfolded on a sunny Sunday in Thuringia, where competitors tackled the classic technique course. Moa Ilar took the lead at the halfway mark and extended her advantage, holding a 10.1-second gap with one kilometer remaining. However, Stadlober mounted a fierce challenge in the final stretch, closing the margin to 0.7 seconds at the finish line. Jonna Sundling of Sweden rounded out the podium in third, 20.8 seconds behind Ilar, following her sprint win the previous day. American Jessie Diggins, the overall distance leader, recovered from 11th at the midpoint to finish fourth.
Norway's 24-year-old Karoline Groetting delivered the day's standout performance, leading until the fourth kilometer before fading slightly to fifth. In only her second World Cup start—after 30th in Saturday's skate sprint—she expressed disbelief post-race. "I’m so happy! I would never have believed it. I was hoping to be in the top 10, but I wasn’t thinking about the top 5 at all. And not in the classics: skateboarding is more my thing," Groetting told NRK.
Groetting's result builds on recent successes, including a double win in individual classic and skate at the Scandinavian Cup in Vantaa, Finland, and second place in the individual skate at the Norwegian championships in Steinkjer on Thursday. Her coach, Olympic legend Marit Bjørgen, praised the effort: "I’m very impressed with her race today. The level was very high. We’d already seen, both in the Scandinavian Cup and the Norwegian Championships, that she skied very fast. To see her succeed in her first World Cup race is really pleasing."
The top 10 also featured Sweden's Maja Dahlqvist in sixth, Switzerland's Nadja Kaelin in seventh—her career-best World Cup finish—Germany's Katharina Hennig Dotzler in eighth, Czechia's Katerina Janatova in ninth, and Sweden's Moa Lundgren in tenth. Ilar's win marks a breakthrough in classic skiing after five prior podiums this season, while Groetting's performance may bolster her case for the Norwegian team at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, where four women's spots remain open.
