The 29-year-old started the competition at the blistering pace as he aimed to earn the first World Cup title of his career.

After shooting clean at the prone station, the Austrian positioned himself firmly in contention to triumph but still found himself adrift of Germany’s Arnd Peiffer, hoping celebrate his 29th birthday in style.

Peiffer’s compatriots Simon Schempp and Erik Lesser also shot clean at the opening range and replicated the feat in the standing to strengthen their pursuit of podium spots.

Schempp emerged from the final station in second position behind Eberhard and had to settle for the runner-up spot, after he finished 1.1 seconds adrift of the Austrian’s time of 24min 18.6sec.

Peiffer won the bronze medal, 23 seconds behind the winner.

"I knew if I was able to shoot well,” Eberhard said.

“I had very disappointing World Championships.

“I knew it was the only shot in Khanty to finish my season on a good note."

One of the major surprises of the day was the error-strewn display of the overall World Cup leader Martin Fourcade.

The Frenchman, winner of four gold medals at the World Championships earlier this month, received four penalties and eventually finished 40th.

Norway’s biathletes also had a rare off-day, with Johannes Thingnes Boe coming home as their highest finisher in seventh.

Their team will hope for stronger performances tomorrow when both women’s 10km and men’s 12.5km pursuit events are due to take place tomorrow.