The 26-year-old was a late call up to replace Petter Northug Jr at the Finnish venue and he was in fine form as he came out on top in the classic sprint. 

Heats, quarter-finals and semi-finals were held on the 1.4 kilometre course before the final featured six skiers.

It was Golberg, who currently trains outside of the Norwegian team, who powered home, clocking a winning time of 2min 54.12sec.

This was 0.75sec quicker than Sweden's silver medallist Calle Halfvarsson who earned his first-ever World Cup podium.

Another Norwegian reserve took bronze as rising star Johannes Klaebo, a replacement for Eirik Brandsdal, was timed 0.87sec behind the winner.

This was also his first appearance on a World Cup podium.

"I did not feel so good in the quarter-final so I had to change my tactics and the other heats were better," said Golberg who won a World Cup event for a fourth time. 

"These were quite difficult conditions with the new snow but I had perfect skis. 

"Most important today was to have a good kick on the uphill. 

"It is great to start the season with the win."

In the women's race, Sweden's Stina Nilsson progressed through the heats before winning the final in 3:21.61.

Like Golberg, she negotiated the climbs well and was the strongest in the final straight.

Norway's Maiken Caspersen Falla, the Olympic sprint champion, was 0.17 adrift in second as another Norwegian, Heidi Weng, came home third, 0.69 behind the winner.

The top two was a reverse of Ruka last year, when Falla was victorious in front of Nilsson.

"It feels great to win the first race of the season," said Nilsson, who had not won a classic technique event before.

The season will continue in Ruka tomorrow with interval start races, with the men tackling 15km and the women 10km. 

Ruka is the traditional curtain-raiser venue for the Nordic season, with competitions also taking place in ski jumping and Nordic Combined this weekend.