The Mountain Bike World Championships continued today with the junior cross-country races ©Getty Images

Switzerland's Monique Halter and Germany's Paul Schehl took the respective women's and men's junior cross-country gold medals today in Les Gets at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Mountain Bike World Championships, as qualification continues in the senior events.

In the women's junior race, Halter crossed the line in 59min 37sec having led from the off and building up a gap of half-a-minute after two laps.

No one was close to catching her, with compatriot Lea Huber the closest in the field.

Huber pulled away from Natalia Grzegorzewska to take silver, 1:16 down on her team-mate and 10 seconds in front of the Polish rider.

Antonia Weeger from Germany was 30 seconds behind the bronze medallist and Britain's Ella MacLean-Howell completed the top five.

Schehl's victory was a lot less dominant but managed to pull away from a group of three in the final stages to take the men's gold in 1:02:48.

Jan Christen from Switzerland was 18 seconds down for the silver, bridging a six-second gap to French bronze medallist Paul Magnier.

Rens Teunissen van Manen from The Netherlands and German pair Benjamin Kruger and Emil Herzog were more than a minute behind the winner, finishing in the top six.

Downhill qualification took place too with French pairing Benoit Coulanges and Amaury Pierron placing first and second respectively in the men's event.

Coulanges clocked a time of 3:26.074, with Pierron finishing second and Spain's Angel Suarez Alonso coming third.

France's Myriam Nicole was far in front in the women's qualification in a time of 3:56.654.

Nina Hoffman of Germany was more than six seconds behind in second and Italian Eleonora Farina was third.