They each claimed the junior world titles despite amassing one penalty each on a track partly covered by artificial snow due to unseasonably warm weather.

The temperatures at the resort had caused problems overnight for officials, who will undertake further work on the course to ensure it is ready for tomorrow’s events.

Norway’s Erdal clinched the women’s six kilometres sprint race, crossing the line in 18min 17.7sec, finishing comfortably ahead of team-mate Emilie Aagheim Kalkenberg, 28.5 seconds adrift in second.

Ukraine’s Anna Kryvonos, the reigning youth individual world champion, rounded off the podium in third place.

The result marked a successful day for the Norwegian duo, both competing at their first-ever international event.

It proved to be a commanding triumph for Erdal, who brushed off an early standing penalty and eventually built up a lead which saw her breeze to a dominant win over the rest of the field.

Kryvonos was her main challenger towards the end of the race but a fall late on cost her over 20 seconds, though she was still able to pick herself up and admirably finish in a medal position.

In the men’s race, held over 7.5km, Malinovskii powered around the course in 20:32.9, with Norwegian Endre Stroemsheim unable to claim gold despite shooting clean as he had to settle for silver.

Stroemsheim was eventually 26.3 seconds behind the Russian, with Malinovskii’s compatriot Viacheslav Maleev coming through to take third.

This was in spite of a disappointing shooting performance which incurred two penalties as he relied on his rapid display with the skis to seal the final spot on the podium.

The event in Cheile Grădiştei is due to continue tomorrow with the junior women’s and men’s sprint races.