Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg kicked off 2026 with her first victory and podium of the season, taking the Oberhof Women’s 7.5 km Sprint in 22:00.6. Oeberg, after a first trimester marred by illness and a single Flower Ceremony in Hochfilzen as a highlight, shot clean this afternoon for the first time since winning the Ruhpolding Women’s 12.5 km Mass Start almost a year ago. Although she was behind Finland’s Suvi Minkkinen after both shooting bouts, the Swede skied away to a 21.1-second margin of victory in the last loop.

“Only focused on myself”

Elvira’s last sprint win came 3 years and 3 days ago at Pokljuka, where she also shot clean. “I am super happy to finally shoot zero in a sprint in a World Cup again feels amazing. I have been struggling a lot with the sprint so we decided to try something different. I really only focused on myself. I didn’t want any intermediates during the race before the last loop. I only focused on my skiing and shooting and it turned out good.”

“Have to hold on until the end”

She was surprised her form was so good after a hard training block recently. “I have been training a lot the 1.5 weeks so I wasn’t actually expecting the shape to be this good. It’s a really tough course here in Oberhof. You don’t have to ski your fastest but you have to hold on until the end. So hopefully the shape is back!”

Minkkinen also shot clean in second place, her fourth podium of the 2025/26 season. France’s Julia Simon returned to form, also shooting clean in a season-best third place, 23.6 seconds back.

Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide, shot clean in fourth, 33.7 seconds back. Germany’s Franziska Preuss, last season’s World Cup Total Score titlist also claimed a season best in fifth place, with one penalty, 47. 1 seconds back. Her teammate Janina Hettich-Walz, with one penalty, did the same, 49.5 seconds back, improving her season high point to sixth from eighteenth at Annecy Le Grand Bornand.

Foggy Afternoon; Tight Prone Battle

Little changed for the women later in the afternoon, with fog and some shooting range wind remaining as the men had earlier. Simon cleaned prone easily, taking the lead after 21 previous starters. Preuss quickly downed her five targets, going out a second slower than Simon. Elvira then went 2.5 seconds faster for the top spot, only to be topped by Minkkinen by a few seconds.

Simon was perfect again in standing, remaining in the top spot. Elvira cleaned, 6.7 seconds better than Simon, taking over the lead. Minkkinen matched, almost five seconds faster than her Swedish rival, setting up a last loop tussle.

Elvira Pulls away for Victory

Simon’s strong last loop found her initially in the top spot, but with 800 meters to go, Elvira was 13 seconds faster, while Minkkinen fell 10 seconds off the Swede’s pace. Elvira continued to pull away for the victory with Minkkinen holding second over Simon.

Photos: IBU/Heilwagen, Nordic Focus