Henrique Avancini won the men's cross-country short track race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Lenzerheide after missing the last two events on the circuit ©Getty Images

Brazil’s Henrique Avancini marked his return to the International Cycling Union (UCI) Mountain Bike World Cup circuit with a victory in the elite men’s cross-country short track event, while Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds won the women’s race in Lenzerheide in Switzerland.

Only two seconds separated the front four in the men’s race, but Avancini’s time of 19min 58sec was enough for the rider who earned silver in this event at the recent UCI Mountain Bike World Championships to win.

Switzerland’s Olympic cross-country silver medallist Mathias Flückiger was second on 19:59, a time matched by France’s Victor Koretzky in third, while South Africa’s Alan Hatherly came fourth on 20:00.

Flückiger's 100 points for finishing second keep him comfortably clear at the top of the cross-country standings for the season, taking his total up to 1,289 points.

The Czech Republic’s Ondřej Cink, second in the overall standings, finished 10th in Lenzerheide, earning 45 points to put him on 979 for the season.

Jordan Sarrou of France is third on 855 points after adding another 65 by finishing sixth.

Compatriot Koretzky closed the gap to the podium by moving onto 825.

Jenny Rissveds won the women's cross-country short track race in Lenzerheide to stay third in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup individual standings ©Getty Images
Jenny Rissveds won the women's cross-country short track race in Lenzerheide to stay third in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup individual standings ©Getty Images

Avancini missed the last two World Cup legs in Leogang in Austria and Les Gets in France, but moved up six places in the individual standings to 19th as his 125 points took him to 385.

In the women’s race, Rissveds finished in 20:34, two seconds quicker than her closest challenger Evie Richards of Britain, who finished second in this event at the World Championships.

Olympic champion Jolanda Neff of Switzerland was 16 seconds off the winner in third.

A fifth-place finish and 70 points for France’s Loana Lecomte extended her lead at the top to 410 points as she now stands on 1,400.

Lecomte’s compatriot Pauline Ferrand Prevot finished 12th, more than a minute behind Rissveds, who herself gave herself some breathing space on the final position on the podium by moving up to 905 points - 129 clear of the United States’ Haley Batten in fourth on 776.

New short track world champion and cross-country Olympic silver medallist Sina Frei of Switzerland finished eighth in the race on home soil to stay sixth in the individual World Cup standings.

Elite and junior downhill qualification races were also held today, and the finals will take place tomorrow.