In the women's race which went ahead first, Østberg was beaten by compatriot Therese Johaug and Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, who gained her second victory in as many days, but despite not winning today’s race, Østberg still increased her lead in the overall standings to 144 points ahead of Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva.

It means with one race to come tomorrow, it is unlikely, but not impossible, she will be caught.

Nilsson, the Olympic sprint and newly-crowned World Cup sprint champion, won today’s event in 25min, 51.6sec.

Johaug, a seven-time world champion on her return from a doping ban this season, finished just 0.2 seconds behind.

Østberg then crossed the line 1.5 seconds behind Nilsson to all but secure the overall World Cup crown.

Her nearest challenger, Nepryaeva, finished way down in 19th.

On the men’s side, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won today’s race in 36:10.9, meaning he is a step closer to defending his World Cup title.

The 22-year-old triple Olympic champion has been in supreme form this season, winning 11 races including the last two.

Like Østberg, with one race still to come it is possible for Klæbo to miss out on the crystal globe as he sits just 42 points ahead of Alexander Bolshunov.

The Russian, who is also 22, finished seventh today in 36:28.3.

Second place on the day was sealed by Canada’s Alex Harvey in 36:11.7, who in turn finished half a second ahead of another Norwegian, Didrik Toenseth, in third.

The season will tomorrow come to an end when the men’s and women’s fields contest pursuit races.