Daniel Hubmann, also from Switzerland, took the bronze medal.

Lysell had nine other finalists starting after him, leaving him to wait in the leader’s chair on stage before first Kyburz and then Hubmann just failed to match Lysell’s time of 14min 28.6sec, meaning he could begin to celebrate.

Last year’s champion, Sweden's Jonas Leandersson, finished in fifth place.

The course proved to be extremely challenging with many complex route choices testing the skills of the finalists to the full, not least in the very early part of the course.

As with the women, there was a map exchange in the arena a little before the half-way point.

Frederic Tranchand of France and Russia's Andrey Khramov were two of the fastest in the earlier section, but both finished outside the top six.

In the women's sprint final, Denmark's Maja Alm stormed round the varied and tricky final course in Strömstad to take the gold medal for the second year in succession.

Alm finished in 14:27.9, an impressive 25.7 seconds ahead of Swiss silver medallist Judith Wyder.

Anastasia Denisova of Belarus took the bronze medal, 42.7 seconds behind Alm, having led by 42 seconds at halfway. 

Russia’s Galina Vinogradova was fourth and Rahel Friederich and Elena Roos provided Switzerland with three athletes in the first six.

On a cloudy afternoon with some spots of rain, a large crowd gathered in the waterside arena to watch first the Opening Ceremony and then the sprint final.

The Championships were opened by International Orienteering Federation President Brian Porteous, performing one of his final tasks before he retries at the General Assembly next Friday (August 26).