Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen was the original overall winner - the second of her three crystal globes - but has now been overtaken by Tora Berger of Norway following the conclusion of doping case involving Zaitseva, and disqualification of the Russian's results that season.

Zaitseva has retrospectively had her World Cup results from after the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics annulled after violating anti-doping rules.

Sochi 2014 was marred by a state-sponsored doping scandal carried out by Russia at the home Games.

Zaitseva finished on the podium three times in the nine World Cup events which followed the conclusion of the Winter Olympics on February 23.

Mäkäräinen finished above Zaitseva in each of those three competitions, while her disqualification has bumped up Berger in each of them.

The changes make Berger the overall winner by five points - 868 to Mäkäräinen's 863.

Berger is displayed as the victor on the IBU website, but it hopes to find a solution for both athletes.

"The IBU Executive Board will convene next week and discuss what principles shall apply in such a case and what this means regarding the Total Score Globe award and prize money distribution," it said.

"The IBU aims to find fair solutions for all parties as innocent athletes cannot be punished for the doping offences of someone else."

As reported by Finnish broadcaster Yle, Mäkäräinen reacted: "After eight years, I don’t even remember all those twists and turns.

"There were so many races in it that could have gone differently if Zaitseva had been taken out of the races for the rest of the season right after Sochi."

Berger meanwhile admitted to NRK that now being deemed the winner is "a bit like stealing her victory".