Fourcade became the first athlete, male or female, to successfully defend a pursuit title as he powered to his third Olympic gold medal in a time of 32min 51.7sec at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre.

The 29-year-old's triumph came after Dahlmeier made history of her own as the first woman to win the sprint and pursuit events at a single Olympic Games.

Fresh from her sprint success on Saturday (Feburary 10), Dahlmeier only briefly relinquished her lead during the 10km race as she crossed the line in 30:35.3.

It saw her earn the honour of the first double Olympic medallist at the Games here.

Both athletes even had time to take a flag of their respective countries from a member of the crowd as they justified their pre-event billing and further outlined their credentials as the two best biathletes on the planet.

Fourcade had endured a nightmare start to his Pyeongchang 2018 campaign as three errors on the shooting range in yesterday's sprint scuppered his chances of a medal in both events.

The pursuit begins in the finishing order of the sprint and Fourcade started 24 seconds behind gold medallist Arnd Peiffer of Germany.

That gap was to grow after Fourcade failed to hit one of his first five targets but he did not look back once he snatched the lead midway through the race.

Fourcade knew the gold was his when he left the final shooting stage unscathed as he raised his fist in triumph before setting off to complete his victory.

It was not quite the procession it perhaps should have been, however, as he appeared to struggle in the final lap after easing off the pace.

"I'm very satisfied because it was a big disappointment yesterday for me, you know," said Fourcade.

"The sprint race was the one I wanted to win. 

"It was the one that I have never won at the Olympics.

"I will probably miss my career without the Olympics in the sprint. 

"I wanted the gold yesterday and I missed, so I was really disappointed and today I am so satisfied I left it as a champion."

Young Swede Sebastian Samuelsson was a surprise silver medallist, 12 seconds adrift of Fourcade, while Norway's Tarjei Bø claimed bronze.

Dahlmeier was also made to work hard in the first half of the race as she traded the lead with Slovakia's Anastasia Kuzmina, the Olympic sprint gold medallist at Sochi 2014.

The German's absence from the head of the pack did not last long, however, and Kuzmina's hopes were dashed when she missed two targets amid strong winds at the third shooting stage.

The errors from the Slovakian opened the door for Dahlmeier to seize control and she duly obliged, coasting to another impressive victory.

Kuzmina was then involved in a thrilling sprint battle with Anais Bescond of France for silver and it was the Slovak who triumphed, crossing 29.4 seconds behind Dahlmeier, an athlete who has laid an early claim for the title of star of Pyeongchang 2018.