With the course divided into five four kilometre laps the competitors had to make five ascents up a gruelling hilly section as well as four trips to the shooting range.

This made it a great spectacle for the throngs of flag-clad spectators who had made the somewhat arduous journey up the mountain - many of whom had come to cheer on Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen in his pursuit of a record 13th Winter Olympic medal.

The brutally tough course proved too much of a challenge for many competitors including Ole Einer Bjoendalen ©ITG


But, while Bjoerndalen was never in contention and finished a disappointing 34th, it was Fourcade's day as the Frenchman added to his 12.5km pursuit gold medal earlier in the week despite missing one shot at the shooting range.

Fourcade clocked 49min 31.70sec to take gold.

Germany's Erik Lesser was the only other man inside 50 minutes, taking silver, while bronze went to Russia's Evgeny Garanichev to the delight of the crowd.

"It was a tough race," said Fourcade, the 2013 world champion.

"I knew I could still win despite that mistake - it was a tight victory."

The three medal winners celebrate in front of vocal support ©Getty Images



In the Olympic Park it was China's day as they took double gold in speed skating.

In the women's 1,000 metres Zhang Hong completed one of the toughest tasks in winter sport and got the better of the Dutch to win the gold medal - with Ireen Wust and Margot Boer having to settle for silver and bronze, while Li Jianrou won the 500m short track event. 

Behind the Chinese winner there were multiple falls - with Arianna Fontana of Italy and Park Seung-hi of South Korea eventually taking silver and bronze after the second athlete across the line, Elise Christie of Great Britain, was disqualified for an illegal overtake.

There was less drama on the final evening of luge as the German team -  consisting of four Sochi 2014 champions in Natalie Geisenberger, Felix Loch, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt - won gold ahead of Russia and Latvia.

Double gold for each member of the German luge team as they complete their clean sweep ©AFP/Getty Images


There was also gold for Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland in the 10km classic cross country and for Joss Christensen in the ski slopestyle as he led home a US cleansweep.

Germany remain clear on the medals table with seven golds while four nations - Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and the US - are tied on four.

Biggest news of the day, though, at least from a host nation standpoint, concerned figure skating legend Evgeny Plushenko, who - after his gold medal earlier on in the team competition - withdrew and announced his retirement in the warm-up due to the return of a back injury.

"I am sorry for my fans and for everybody, but I tried till the end," Plushenko said.

"This is not how I wanted to end my career and I am very disappointed - but I tried to do my best." 

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