The Czech Republic national finished off the podium today during the 7.5 kilometre sprint race, but courtesy of a bad performance from rival Dahlmeier, who scored her worst finished of the season way down in 31^st place, handed her the title.

Starting the day with the leader’s yellow bib, the German biathlete was aiming to complete the task of securing the sprint crystal globe to go alongside the overall World Cup crown she has won for the season.

However, three penalties on the prone shooting proved to be decisive for her as she ended up 1min 54.8sec off first place.

Topping the podium for the first time in her career was Finland’s Mari Laukkanen, who got round in a time of 20:33.5, beating France’s Justine Braisaz by 7.9sec, with the latter’s team-mate Anais Bescond coming third.

Koukalová finished fourth after a single penalty in the standing shoot, but this result saw her finish on 377 points in the sprint rankings, five ahead of Dahlmeier.

In the men’s 10km sprint, Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Boe gave the home crowd something to cheer as he claimed victory in a time of 24:53.3.

This saw him finish 13.6 in front of Frenchman Martin Fourcade, who had already earned the sprint crystal globe, while Russian Anton Shipulin came third a further 7.7 back.

Competition in Oslo continues tomorrow with the pursuit races.

The women will contest a 10km course while the men will race for 12.5km.