After illness and personal loss early in the season, Karoline Grøtting is now beating World Cup winners and could secure a free World Cup spot within weeks.

The outsider from Elverum opened the season with a stomach ulcer and a death in the family. Three weeks later, she is beating World Cup stars and World Champions. In one week, she could secure a free World Cup spot.

Team Anlegg Øst Entreprenør has already propelled two athletes to World Cup victories and into the Olympic squad this season. Now, another skier is on the rise.

The first four weeks of the season have been quite a journey for Karoline Grøtting. She lost her grandfather, developed an acute stomach ulcer, and received her first phone call from the national team. Now, she is effectively leading the Scandinavian Cup.

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After the first round, the 24-year-old from Elverum sits third overall, but ahead of her are two athletes who will not compete in the next round.

Eva Ingebrigtsen from Team Elon Midt-Norge leads the standings, followed by World Championships star Ebba Andersson in second place. However, both will race the Tour de Ski, which clashes with the Scandinavian Cup.

That puts Grøtting in a position to take over the overall lead of the Scandinavian Cup in just over a week, securing a free World Cup spot all the way until the Olympic Games in February.

“Oh sh*t! Can I do that? I didn’t know that. That’s really fun,” she tells Langrenn.com.

Grøtting is in her third season with Team Anlegg Øst Entreprenør, the private team behind this season’s major talking points, Einar Hedegart and Karoline Simpson-Larsen. Last year, she won silver at the Roller Ski World Championships, and this summer she challenged the world elite at the Blink Festival. Now, she is also taking a significant step forward on snow.

Must hold off a World Cup winner

The next round of the Scandinavian Cup takes place in Vantaa, Finland, from January 2 to 4. Grøtting currently holds a 22-point lead over fourth-placed Tiril Udnes Weng and is 30 points ahead of Mali Eidnes Bakken in fifth.

The program includes a classic sprint, a 20km classic race, and a 10km freestyle, which gives Grøtting some cause for concern.

“I’m better at skating than at classic, and there are two classic races in Vantaa. Tiril Udnes Weng is right behind me, and she’s much stronger than I am in classic, so I fear she’ll be leading after that weekend,” Grøtting says.

For Udnes Weng, the overall World Cup winner in 2023, the weekend in Vantaa represents one of the final opportunities to secure a World Cup start before Olympic selection at the end of January. So far this season, the 29-year-old’s best result is 19th place, while Grøtting is riding a wave of momentum.

For now, everything is about maintaining form and flow heading into the races in Finland.

Grøtting is spending most of Christmas at the family cabin in Sjusjøen, together with her family, with some infection-control precautions.

“My mum is probably more worried about infection than I am. My brother had planned a cabin trip with some friends, and I told him he wasn’t allowed to go. He actually accepted that,” she says.

A brutal season opener

That Grøtting now stands on the brink of leading the Scandinavian Cup is almost unbelievable.

After her best pre-season ever, she arrived at Beitostølen in the best shape of her life, only to experience the worst season start of her career.

“My grandfather passed away while I was in Beitostølen. I raced the sprint, but it went really badly. I felt completely out of it, drained of energy, and didn’t recognize my own body,” Grøtting explains.

She was forced to withdraw from the classic race on Saturday and did not start the skating race.

“I just couldn’t do it. I was so exhausted, and it all became too much,” she says.

Later, it emerged that Grøtting had developed an acute stomach ulcer caused by stress and grief.

“It was terrifying,” she says.

After receiving medication, she recovered quickly, and since then, the curve has risen sharply.

Already the following weekend, at the Norwegian Cup opener in Gålå, she was at a completely different level. She secured a podium finish in the 10km and a reserve spot for the World Cup in Trondheim.

“It was really cool to get that call from national team coach Sjur Ole Svarstad, saying he had listed me as a reserve. I thought it would take a lot for someone to get sick. But now he knows who I am,” Grøtting says.

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