Three-time Olympic medallist Schurter's lead stood at 89 points going into the season finale in the Canadian resort of Mont-Sainte-Anne, meaning a 14^th-place finish in 1hour 30min 15sec after a dropped chain was enough for him to take the World Cup title.

The man who dethroned him as Olympic champion and the reigning world champion Tom Pidcock of Britain earned a second World Cup win of the season in impressive fashion in 1:26:27, beating Switzerland's Mathias Flückiger by 26sec and his compatriot Marcel Guerrini by 1min 31sec.

Schurter finished the season with a leading 1,549 points, holding off the 1,509 from France's Jordan Sarrou who was ninth and 1,499 from Flückiger.

Third place in the women's cross-country for The Netherlands' Pieterse was enough for her to take the overall title with 1,939 points.

Pieterse clocked 1:29:12, beaten on the day by France's Loana Lecomte with a time of 1:28:09 and Sweden's Rio 2016 Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds with her time of 1:28:24.

Lecomte finished the season in second on 1,526, followed by Alessandra Keller of Switzerland with 1,445.

In the non-Olympic downhill discipline, Austria's Valentina Höll had already sealed the overall title, but added a third win of the season in 4:40.133, beating Germany's Nina Hoffmann by more than 13 seconds.

Hoffmann was second for the season and France's Marine Cabirou third after a ninth-place finish in Mont-Sainte-Anne.

Third place in the men's downhill for France's Loïc Bruni was sufficient for the title.

He clocked 4:04.594, losing out on the day to Canadian home favourite Jackson Goldstone in 3:57.836 and Britain's Ethan Craik in 4:02.164.

Bruni finished with 1,698 points for the season, followed by Goldstone with 1,616 and France’s Loris Vergier with 1,533.