Alexandersson shrugged off the difficult conditions as she crossed the line in a time of 86min 24sec to finish ahead of Natalia Gemperle of Russia, who was 26 seconds adrift.

The Russian was forced to settle for silver, with bronze going the way of Norway’s Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg.

Saila Kinni of Finland, one of the first starters in the race, had held the lead from the early stages but eventually faded and came home in fifth, her best-ever World Orienteering Championships finish.

Alexandersson had endured a difficult start to the event and at one point trailed Gemperle, who missed out on the silver medal in the middle distance competition by a narrow three-second margin, by more than two minutes.

But the Swede managed to whittle that down to 0.21sec by the time they reached the last section and the home favourite completed the final loop in style before sprinting home to take gold.

In the men’s race, Norway’s Olav Lundanes sealed the world title in dominant fashion as he took the tape more than a minute clear of nearest challenger Thierry Gueorgiou of France.

Lundanes clocked 93:27 to claim his fourth World Championships gold medal, with Gueorgiou completing the arduous course in 95:13.

Switzerland’s Daniel Hubmann was also in the challenging group, which was streets ahead of the rest of the field, as he took home the bronze medal.

“Since it was decided that WOC would be in this part of Sweden it has been a goal to win gold,” Lundanes said.

“Since 2012 I have felt older and every day has been challenging.

“I am probably better in running in the terrain now, but I think I was faster on hard ground earlier.”