Russia’s Pavel Andreev had a fantastic ski section to overhaul the Czech Republic’s Marek Rauchfuss in the men’s event to win his eighth world title.

After posting only the sixth-fastest time on both run and bike sections, Andreev would have the quickest ski time by nearly a minute to beat the Czech by just seven seconds.

In a time of 1 hour 17min 25sec, Andreev was also 33 seconds ahead of team-mate and bronze medallist Dmitriy Bregeda who was a long way clear of Italy’s Giuseppe Lamastra in fourth.

The women’s race saw an incredible bike and ski section from another Russian, Daria Rogozina, to defend her world title.

After finishing fourth on the run, the defending champion brought herself back into contention on the bike before posting the second-quickest time on skis to claim gold in 1:32:22.

Her team-mates ensured Russia would complete the top four, with Anna Medvedeva taking silver thanks to an extraordinary ski section after struggling on the bike.

Two-time champion Yulia Surikova finished third - 26 seconds ahead of 22-year-old Svetlana Sokolova - and will attribute second-quickest and third-quickest times in the bike and run splits for her medal.

Sokolova's time was quick enough to take women;s under-23 gold, while Italy's Franco Pesavento won the men's under-23 race.

Norway’s Casper Rønning held off a strong Russian contingent in the junior men’s, claiming gold in 44:18.

Despite four Russians following his tail, they never got close enough to the Norwegian who led from start to finish.

The silver medal went to Yaroslav Kurilenok, who excelled on skis and posted the fastest time.

There was a close competition for the bronze between Danila Egorov and Vladislav Semenov, with only 16 seconds between them.

They took similar chunks out of each other on the bike and the run, but a smooth first transition from Egorov as well as a slightly quicker skiing section gave him the final place on the podium.

In the junior women’s race, Slovakia took gold and silver as Zuzana Michalickova held off team-mate Margareta Bicanova thanks to quicker transitions and a quicker ski.

Michalickova fell behind at the start on the run but soon recovered that time to take a slim lead into transition two, where she changed quickly and extended her lead on the ski section.

The two were nearly four minutes ahead of the bronze medallist Polina Sadovaia, who guaranteed that Russia won a medal in every event on the day having comfortably held the position for most of the race, extending it on the bike and skis.