The 17-year-old, who was born in Lillehammer, cruised to a dominant victory as he completed the course in 28min 10.7sec, over a minute quicker than nearest challenger Egor Tatmin of Russia.

The sprint bronze medallist clocked 29:21.4 to clinch second place ahead of compatriot Said Karimulla Khalili, who was seven seconds behind his fellow Russian competitor.

Bakken incurred one penalty at each of the four shooting stages but was still able to pull well clear of the rest of the field to claim the honour of being crowned the first Norwegian gold medallist at the second edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games.

“I was satisfied with the silver [on Sunday],” he said.

“I didn’t expect that, but now with the gold it’s unbelievable.

“I felt very, very good on the track and focused on the shooting range.

"In the last half of the race I felt really confident and I had full control.

“I just thought ‘if I do my best, it’s good enough [to win]’.”

There was also a Lillehammer 2016 first in the women’s pursuit race, held over 7.5km, as Khrystyna Dmytrenko sealed Ukraine’s maiden medal - their first-ever at the Winter Youth Olympic Games - by powering home in a time of 25:12.9.

The Ukrainian recovered from a tricky start, gradually opening up a lead before crossing the line 7.5 seconds ahead of home favourite Marthe Krakstad Johansen.

The Norwegian was involved in a titanic battle for silver with Lou Jeanmonnot Laurent and the two competitors were only separated by a photo finish as Johansen pipped the French athlete by 0.1 seconds by clocking 25:20.4.

The top three proved far too strong for the rest of the field as fourth-placed Chloe Levins of the United States was over half-a-minute adrift of the winning time.