Sweden had won the previous three events but their winning streak was ended courtesy of an emphatic performance from Diggins in the Slovenian resort.

The American proved too strong, seeing off the Swedish challenge to become the first US cross-country skier to win an individual world title.

"That was so emotional, that was amazing," said Diggins who clocked a winning time of 23min 40.8sec.

"I’ve just got to say thank you to the team.

"That was one of the best races of my whole life.

"I knew I felt good and I was in a good shape but you also have to have great skis and good wax.

"I had everything I needed today.

"They worked so hard to make this possible."

Diggins set the early space, leaving her main competitors trailing with a lead of under four seconds at the 2.2km mark.

The gap continued to increase as the race wore on as Diggins won by 14 seconds from Sweden’s Frida Karlsson.

"[It was] really hard," said Diggins.

"I could really feel my legs at the end but that’s normal for me.

"I was just trying to push as hard as I could.

"I was really happy about the snow because I could really work the corners and this was the perfect course for me."

Karlsson had to settle for a third successive 10km individual silver as she crossed the finish line in 23:53.8.

Sweden’s Ebba Andersson, the winner of the women’s 15km skiathlon event, joined Karlsson on the podium after sealing bronze in 24:00.3.

"It was a tough one today," added Andersson.

"You didn’t get anything for free and it was hard to keep pushing during the whole race but I tried my very best.

"It has been a long time since I was this exhausted.

"[Diggins] was strong today and as usual she is strong in the downhill.

"I just tried to go as fast as I could today and it was enough for this bronze medal."