Chevalier continued her dominant performance at the event as she powered to victory by completing the 10 kilometres course in a time of 29min 25.4sec.

The French biathlete shot clean and proved too quick for the rest of the field on the skis, beating silver medallist and sprint champion Iryna Varvynets of the Ukraine by 11 seconds.

Chevalier's compatriot Julia Simon came through to seal the bronze medal, 43.2 seconds behind her victorious team-mate.

"I knew that Irina shoots faster than me, so my plan was to make up some time on the tracks," Chevalier said.

"The last loop was really, really hard. 

"I knew Iryna was back there, so I was very happy to reach the finish line."

Russian Alexander Loginov triumphed in the men's race, held over 12.5km, as he clocked 32:22.1.

Loginov claimed a commanding win as he finished 27.6 seconds quicker than Bulgaria's Krasimir Anev, who was forced to settle for silver.

Evgeniy Garanichev rounded off a successful competition for the Russian side as he earned bronze.

"It was planned that I would skip the individual competition, otherwise I would be two tired today," said Loginov.

"I was not confident about my win, but glad that the guys allowed me to finish first with my two penalties.”

The event concludes tomorrow with two relay races.