Koukalová won in the 7.5km sprint on Friday (January 6) at the German resort and produced a fine display today by shooting clean en-route to victory.

She had been trailing in the early stages to Kaisa Mäkäräinen, but four penalties saw the Finnish biathlete fall out of contention.

It allowed Koukalová to take control of the race and the Czech pulled away from the rest of the field to triumph in a time of 37min 20.5sec.

Koukalová expressed her hope that she would be able to maintain her form before the World Championships in Hochfilzen in Austria, which are due to take place from February 8 to 19.

"I hope I am not on top of my form now, as the main goal for me is Hochfilzen," Koukalová said.

"Comparing to last season, when the goal was total score, I will concentrate on World Championships more."

Germany's Laura Dahlmeier would finish as the runner-up to the Czech, finishing 31 seconds off the pace.

The podium was completed by Koukalová's teammate Eva Puskarcikova, who finished the event in a time of 38:05.

Koukalová now leads the overall World Cup standings with 479 points, slightly in front of Germany's Laura Dahlmeier who is second on 464.

Mäkäräinen sits third on 448.

Simon Schempp would delight the home crowd by winning the men's 15km mass start.

It was the first victory of the season for the German biathlete, who finished in a time of 38:30 with only one penalty to his name.

His compatriot Erik Lesser lunged past France’s Martin Fourcade on the line to finish in second place, with both men ending 0.4 seconds behind the winner.

It denied the dominant Fourcade a ninth victory in 11 World Cup races this season, but the Frenchman still remains on top of the overall standings on 600 points.

Anton Shipulin of Russia has 379 in second place with Schempp third on 370.

The next leg of the IBU World Cup season will be held in Ruhpolding in Germany from January 13.