The Norwegian crossed the line after 30min 8.6sec to secure his first win of the season, with overall World Cup leader Johannes Lamparter of Austria just 1.5sec back in second place.

Graabak's compatriot Jarl Magnus Riiber rounded out the top three after a cross-country route which covered 12.5 kilometres.

Once more the Austrian event was plagued by strong winds, meaning that the ski jumping round on the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze normal hill was cancelled.

As a result, yesterday's provisional competition round - combined bonus points from yesterday's World Cup - was used to calculate the starting order for today's cross-country race.

This meant Graabak, a winner of two Olympic gold medals at Sochi 2014, had a total of 134.9 points and began the cross-country segment first.

The 30-year-old was in the lead for the duration of the race but had Lamparter bearing down on him.

It was neck-and-neck with the finish line in sight, but Graabak prevailed in a thrilling sprint finish.

The win sees him rise to 575 points in the overall standings, sitting in fourth.

Lamparter extended his lead at the top of the table and now sits on 1,030 points; Riiber is second on 883 with five legs of the season remaining.

The circuit is now due to take a break for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games before returning on February 27 in Lahti in Finland.