Maria Hartz Melling looked strong throughout the race as the Norwegian clinched the 1.2 kilometres sprint gold in 2:36.17.

Swede Maerta Rosenberg tried her best to challenge Melling but finished second in the end with a time of 2:36.54.

Despite a fall in the last uphill, Elizaveta Bekisheva of Russia took bronze in 2:38.02.

Among men, it came down to a dramatic showdown between Norwegian Johannes Lønnestad Flaaten and Edvin Anger of Sweden.

However, Anger fell in the last downhill, forcing him to settle for sixth place, as Flaaten won the gold in 2:15.55.

Italian Elia Barp came second to get the silver medal in 2:16.21 while Flaaten’s compatriot Aleksander Elde Holmboe got bronze in 2:18.44.

Norway also won the under-23 mixed relay, with Kristin Austgulen Fosnaes, Mari Folkvord, Håvard Moseby and Andreas Fjorden Ree bagging gold with a combined time of 49:20.5.

France who had Eve Ondine Duchaufour, Melissa Gal, Theo Schely and Jules Chappaz took the silver medal 7.5 seconds later while Russia's Veronika Stepanova, Anastasiya Faleeva, Ivan Gorbunov and Denis Filimonov bagged bronze in 49:32.7 in Lygna.

The Nordic combined and ski jumping events of the FIS Junior Cross-Country World Ski Championships is set to be held in Zakopane next month.