Paralympic champion Kononova proved too strong for the rest of the field once again as she powered to a dominant win in a time of 38mins 12.4 seconds in the 12.5 kilometres event.

On a podium largely dominated by the imperious Ukranians, compatriot Liudmyla Liashenko took silver while Finland's Maija Jarvela claimed an excellent bronze.

The result also gave the multi-talented Kononova her fifth consecutive top three finish across biathlon and cross-country events as she secured her fourth gold of the Championships.

"[They] are two different sports so the preparation is different," she said.

"Before this biathlon [race] I was trying to calm down, to get the thoughts in order and prepare mentally for this race."

In the men's 15km race, Reptyukh completed a superb day for his country as he sealed a day of double delight for Ukraine with a narrow victory.

The 21-year-old, who won the long distance standing biathlon event at the 2013 World Championships, shot clean on his way to capturing gold as he finished 4.8 seconds ahead of nearest challenger Vladislav Lekomtcev of Russia.

Ihor Reptyukh edged a close mens 15km race to take gold ahead of Russia's Vladislav Lekomtcev ©Getty Images



Lekomtcev was bidding for a hat-trick of titles at the competition in Cable but could not quite catch Reptyukh, while France's Benjamin Daviet took bronze following a perfect round of shooting.

There was to be some success for Russia though as Lekomtcev's teammate Alexey Bychenok claimed gold in the sitting event in a time of 46:31.2, ahead of American Andre Soule, who enjoyed a clean round of shooting to take silver.

Grigory Murygin rounded off the podium to take bronze, while the Russian team took a one-two in the women's sitting event.

Iuliia Budaleeva, guided by Tatiana Maltseva, sealed the title in a time of 40:29.0, and Elena Remizova and guide Maksim Pirogov fought their way to silver, almost two minutes behind.

Ukraine claimed yet another medal as Olga Prylutska, guided by Borys Babar, stormed home to take bronze.

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