The double Olympic champion extended his lead at the summit of the overall standings by clocking a time of 44min 27.9sec.

Fourcade dominated the race as he seized the advantage right from the first prone stage.

It was a lead he would not relinquish as he finished comfortably in front of the Czech Republic's Ondřej Moravec, who was over a minute adrift in second place.

Norway's Johannes Thingnes Bø, Fourcade's closest challenger in the race for the overall title, finished on the podium as he came through to take third.

Bø lost further ground on Fourcade as he crossed the line in 1:06.3 behind the victorious Frenchman.

Fourcade now has a total of 612 points as he bids for an unprecedented seventh straight overall crown.

Bø remains in second place but trails by 50 points, with Slovenia's Jakov Fak third on 399 points.

Fak fell further behind today as he finished in a disappointing 14th place in the 20km event.

The result capped off a commanding start to the Olympic year for Fourcade, who has won all three races to take place so far in 2018.

It also saw Fourcade and Bø share the 20km individual event crystal globe as today's race was the last over the distance of the season.

"The 20k is a competition that I truly love," said Fourcade. 

"You have to be focused on yourself and do your own biathlon. 

"Today, Johannes and I tied for the Crystal Globe; we will have to figure out a custody arrangement or maybe the IBU will give us two."

Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway, the most decorated Winter Olympian, remains in danger of missing out on qualification for Pyeongchang 2018 as he finished 42nd.

The World Cup in the German resort continues tomorrow with the women's 15km event.