Fourcade, who won two gold medals at Sochi 2014, finished in a time of 30mins 49.5secs to defend the 12.5km title he won at last year’s event in Oberhof.

With the wind staying calm throughout the race, the defending World Cup champion shot aggressively and cleaned with ease to finish 6.3 seconds ahead of Norway’s three-time World Championship gold medal winner Johannes Thingnes Bø.

Thingnes Bø's brother Tarjei claimed bronze, 30.9 seconds behind the leader.

Today’s result means Fourcade, who has won 11 World Championship gold medals throughout his career, has increased his lead at the top of the rankings to 38 points.

Kuzmina followed up her victory in Thursday’s (January 4) 7.5km sprint by taking the women’s 10km pursuit title in a time of 30:49.5, 1:04.4 ahead of Italy’s Dorothea Wierer who claimed silver.

After her win, which puts her 47 points clear at the top of the women's rankings, Kuzmina said: “It was a very interesting race for me today; my shape is very good now but I was worried if I could concentrate on the shooting.

“After the first shooting, I was relaxed and realized it was okay.”

The bronze medal was taken by Vita Semerenko of Ukraine, who performed superbly to leap up to third after starting the day in 22^nd.

The event continues tomorrow with the men’s and women’s relay races.