The disqualification of nine results from Russia's Olga Zaitseva had retrospectively moved the Norwegian Berger above Finland's Mäkäräinen on the scoring charts.

The IBU Executive Board met to discuss the situation, and the body has unanimously decided that both athletes will be eligible for crystal globes, reflecting the fact "it is impossible to recreate the circumstances that each of those two athletes would have faced in the final competitions of the season".

A joint award ceremony at a future Biathlon World Cup event will be held for Berger and Mäkäräinen, with the former also receiving additional prize money,

This, it argued, represented a "fair solution for both athletes based on the principle that clean athletes cannot be punished for the doping offences of others".

The IBU added that this "sends a strong message that, together with the BIU [Biathlon Integrity Unit], the IBU will ensure those identified as being responsible for cheating, will be held accountable".

Mäkäräinen was the original winner of the 2013-2014 World Cup season, and concurred that this was the best outcome for all parties.

"I am really happy with this decision that I can keep my crystal globe and still be the total ccore winner 2013-2014," Mäkäräinen said.

"It is the fairest solution to award two globes and I am very happy for Tora.

"Of course, winning the globe seven years later is not the same as winning it on the competition day and she didn't get all the benefits that come with such a big win.

"It is always disappointing to hear about a doping offence of a competitor, which causes a recalculation of results since this can never bring back the real circumstances of the actual competition.

"I just hope not to go through this again and wish that the present and future of our sport is doping-free and that we can trust the results which we see on the competition day."

Zaitseva's results from after the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics have been expunged after a verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport became legally binding.

In the nine races impacted, the Russian athlete finished on the podium three times.

Mäkäräinen finished above her in each of those, but Berger was bumped up a place in all three races by Zaitseva's disqualification.

That led to the two-time Olympic gold medallist picking up the most points across the season - 868 to Mäkäräinen's 863.

Having originally missed out on securing back-to-back crystal globes in 2013-2014, Berger was pleased to reach a compromise that suited both athletes.

"This is a fair and good decision for both of us," she said.

"I would have felt really bad if Kaisa had to give back her crystal globe.

"I remember the fight for the overall title with Kaisa very well and she was the strongest in the last competitions.

"It would have been nice to win the title in the last competition of my career on that day but I was very happy with my career overall.

"It is very difficult for me to say how I feel about winning my second crystal globe for the total score now since so much time has passed since then."

Third place in 2013-2014 was unchanged, with Darya Domracheva of Belarus completing the podium.