Defending World Cup champion Martin Fourcade won the men's mass start event ©IBU

Defending overall World Cup champion Martin Fourcade of France recovered from the disappointment of yesterday’s pursuit race as he took victory in the men’s 15 kilometres mass start event at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany.

The two-time Olympic champion incurred one penalty on his way to finishing the course in a time of 34min 07.2sec to clinch gold ahead of Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic, the only competitor to shoot clean.

The Czech athlete was 13.7 seconds slower than the winning time, with Norway’s Tarjei Bø, second in the opening day’s sprint race, doing enough for bronze despite being penalised three times.

Ukraine's Dmytro Pidruchnyi couldn’t quite seal a place on the podium as he was fourth.

The result saw Fourcade, who is bidding for a fifth straight overall World Cup crown, extend his advantage at the top of the leaderboard as he now has a commanding total of 541 points.

Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway, his closest challenger, fell even further behind in the race for the title as he could only manage 13th and he is now 119 adrift.

“I was so close from the win in few competitions yesterday and in Pokljuka, and I really wanted to win today,” Fourcade said.

“I am happy about my shooting reaction.

“I have a good gap with other athletes in total ranking, but it's only World Cup 4.

“So many things can happen, and I can never take it as a guarantee.”

Germany's Laura Dahlmeier secured her second straight victory as she added mass start success to her pursuit triumph
Germany's Laura Dahlmeier secured her second straight victory as she added mass start success to her pursuit triumph ©Getty Images

The race began amid warm and windy conditions as Tarjei Bø emerged as the early leader, before the Norwegian endured a tricky first prone stage which saw him drop to 25th.

Fourcade, along with brother Simon and fellow French athlete Quentin Fillon Maillet, took advantage by shooting clean. 

Although the Frenchman was given one penalty, he always looked likely of claiming victory as he held off the late challenge of Moravec to cap off another dominant day.

Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier breezed to a commanding success in the women’s event, held over 12.5km, as the 2013 junior world champion finished in 33:17.7 to clinch her second straight triumph having won yesterday’s pursuit race.

That time proved enough to beat double world champion Marie Dorin Habert, who clocked 33:33.0, with Norway’s Tiril Eckhoff claiming third, 21.9 seconds behind the winning time.

Dahlmeier currently occupies fourth place on the overall leaderboard, which is led by Gabriela Soukalová of the Czech Republic, who has 503 points, while Dorin Habert is second on 468.

The next IBU World Cup event takes place at the same venue from January 13 to 17.