Switzerland’s Simona Aebersold started the rush for gold with victory in the women's long distance race in in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

She came home in 1 hour 21min 43sec to win the title for the first time a winning margin of 31 seconds.

Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson, World Champion at the distance in the five previous years, was forced to settle for silver in 1:22:14, with Andrine Benjaminsen of Norway winning the bronze in 1:29:03.

"I've been aiming for this title for a long time and in recent months I haven't always believed that I could achieve it, so that's why I'm so happy to win," Aebersold said.

There was further joy for Aebersold in the men’s race when her partner Kasper Harlem Fosser of Norway claimed victory after a magnificent contest with Switzerland’s Matthias Kyburz.

The race was only decided on the final lap and Fosser came home in 1:33:06 after turning a small advantage into a lead of 51 seconds.

Kyburz clocked 1:33:57 for silver and Finland’s Junior World Champion Olli Ojanaho took bronze in 1:37:37, his first medal at senior level.

"It's crazy that Simona and I can win here together," Fosser said.

"We invested a lot of time together in preparing for these World Championships and everything worked out."

In the men’s middle distance, Kyburz delighted the home crowd with victory in 38min 19sec a margin of two minutes over his team-mate Joey Hadorn in silver with 40:19.

Janis Bonek of Austria claimed bronze in 40:26.

"I had planned to navigate from feature to feature on the map, like Pac-Man in the video game, I managed to do this, and I was always in control of my run." Kyburz revealed.

"It was a fantastic feeling to be able to run down the run-in in front of this crowd on this special occasion."

In the women’s race, Alexandersson atoned for her disappointment in the long distance event with a convincing gold in 37:26, winning by more than two minutes. from Switzerland's Natalia Gemperle in 39:44.

The bronze medal went to Hanna Lundberg of Sweden, who clocked a time of 40:00.

It was Alexandersson’s 30th career medal, of which 18 have been gold.

"It wasn't a perfect race, but I managed the middle part really well," she said.

"My love for orienteering remains as strong as ever.

"I really, really enjoy this sport."

The relays provided a grand finale of high drama even before the start.

Middle distance silver medallist Hadorn was drafted into the Swiss men’s team shortly before the race because an eye injury prevented Martin Hubmann from competing.

Hubmann’s brother Daniel led the team off and passed to Hadorn, who built an advantage of two minutes in the steep terrain on the second leg.

It was left to  Kyburz to take the squad home to victory in a total time of 1:57:16.

The silver went to Finland in 1:57:59, 43 seconds behind and bronze to Sweden in 1:58:13.

"I was a bit taken aback when the coach got me out of bed in the morning, I would have liked to have slept an hour longer," Hadorn admitted.

At 40, Hubmann became the oldest to win gold at the World Championships.

Sweden were convincing winners in the women’s relay.

Lundberg celebrated her 21st birthday with a superb opening leg to build the advantage.

It was a lead they never lost as Sara Hagstrom and Alexandersson made sure of victory in 1:47:26.

Switzerland took silver with 1:51:54, nearly four-and-a-half minutes behind the gold medallists.

Norway claimed bronze in 1:57:25 with a trio including 43-year-old Marianne Andersen, who first competed at the World Championships 20 years ago and became the oldest medallist in the event's history.