Bø produced another superb skiing display as he recovered from a penalty on the shooting range to finish the 10 kilometres sprint event in 23min 19.3sec.

The Norwegian was 12.8 seconds quicker than Frenchman Fourcade, who maintained his record of having clinched a place on the podium at every event so far this season.

Fourcade and Germany’s Arnd Peiffer, who ended up third, both shot clean but could not compete with the skiing speed of Bø.

Bø now trails double Olympic gold medallist Fourcade by 38 points with a total of 682.

Fourcade, the defending champion bidding for a seventh consecutive crown, leads the way on 720 points.

The overall title is likely to be sealed by either the Norwegian or Fourcade as Jakov Fak of Slovenia is some way off the pace in third on 438 points.

"In the sprint, you almost always have to shot clean," said Bø.

"After my prone miss, I knew a podium would be hard, but you never know; you fight hard. 

"With zero in standing, I knew there was a chance.

"I had the times from the start and knew I had good speed today.

"Martin is almost always stronger than me on the last lap, but today I was not tired."

The World Cup event in the Italian resort is due to continue tomorrow with the women's 10km and men's 12.5km pursuit events.