The Winter Duathlon Championships were first to be held, with the elite races requiring a two-lap three-kilometre run and a two-lap five-kilometre cross-country skiing leg repeated twice at the Skeikampen Arena.

World orienteering champion Jørgen Baklid triumphed in the men's event for Norway, clocking 48min 39sec to take gold.

It was a podium sweep for the host nation, with Fredrik Schwencke second in 49:22 and Hans Christian Tungesvik third in 49:49.

Last year's women's under-23 world champion Julie Meinicke pulled clear in the final stages of this year's elite race to claim a terrific victory in 1hr 0min 4sec, beating Romania's Maria Luisa Rasina by nine seconds and Carina Wasle of Austria by 23 seconds.

Meinicke defended her under-23 title with the victory, which in the men's race went to seventh-placed Petter Myhr, also of Norway.

The men's junior title also went to the host nation through Edvard Fossum Olstad in the men's race in 56:32, while Sweden's Ella Ohlsson earned women's junior gold in 1:04:06.

Robert Tamirjan of Romania was the only athlete in the men's PTS4 category, clocking 1:00:59 from a 6km run and 8.7km ski.

The duathlon event was followed by the Triathlon Winter Championships at the same venue, with the elite races featuring two 2km running laps, two 3.1km bike laps and two 3km skiing laps repeated twice.

Hans Christian Tungesvik earned another gold for Norway in the men's race, adding to his triumph two years ago.

Czech Republic's Marek Rauchfuss built a lead after the final bike leg, but Tungesvik proved too strong on the skis, completing the required 6km 22 seconds quicker than anyone else in 16:23.

He earned victory in 1:40.17, with Rauchfuss taking silver in 1:41:30.

Defending champion Franco Pesavento of Italy earned bronze in 1:42:14.

The women's race was dominated by an Italian in Sandra Mairhofer, who won the race by more than four minutes.

She crossed the finish line in 2:00:09, with Norway's Ingrid Lorvik placing second in 2:04:31.

Wasle matched her duathlon bronze with a time of 2:08.44.

A ninth-place finish from Mattia Tanara of Italy in the men's race earned him the under-23 title in 1:47:45, while Norway's Victoria Nitteberg triumphed in the women's equivalent category in 2:13:43 after a seventh-place finish.

Italy's Riccardo Giuliano took the men's junior gold in 58:02, and Norway's Eline Ekroll the women's title in 1:05:35.

The junior competition featured only one lap on each of the six legs of the race.

Tamirjan was again the only competitor in the men's PTS4, notching a time of 52:08 from 2.7km of running, 5km on the bike and 5.2km of skiing.

The World Triathlon Winter Championships concluded with the 2x2 mixed relay, in which Mairhofer combined with Pesavento to earn further success for Italy.

Each athlete was required to complete a 1km run, 2km bike and 2km ski twice in the relay, and it was the Italian pair who claimed an impressive victory.

Norway's Lorvik and Tungesvik beat their compatriots Meinicke and Oivind Bjerkseth by just six seconds to earn silver, and Romania's Rasina and Viorel Palici took bronze as the third-fastest nation.