Fourcade's last victory was on January 11 in Oberhof, Germany, but the Frenchman started as he meant to go on in the Norwegian capital, shooting clean in the first two stages.

Despite his accurate shooting Fourcade was being pushed for first position by Russia's Anton Shipulin and Jakov Fak, who came into the competition on the back of consecutive victories, but the two men faltered in the incurring penalties and gave Fourcade the opportunity to seize the lead.

The World Cup leader duly took his chance finishing the course in 51min 26.8sec to seal the victory, with his main competition eventually coming from Russia's Evgeniy Garanichev and Sergey Semenov of Ukraine, who finished second and third, 14.2 and 48.8 seconds back respectively.

"I started really slow; that was my plan so I was confident I would be good on the last loop," Fourcade said.

"Still after the first prone I was far back and was a bit concerned.

"Shooting was not easy; I stopped after the third shot in both standing stages, to make sure I hit the other targets."

FInland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen shot clean to win the women's event ©Getty Images



Accuracy appeared to be the order of the day as Mäkäräinen shot cleanly on her way to victory in the women's competition, but unlike Fourcade the Finnish athlete came flying out of the start to claim an early advantage over her rivals.

Mäkäräinen continued to build her advantage as she progressed through the 15km course shooting confidently and she maintained her speed until the finish, posting a time of 43:54.8.

"I woke up this morning and felt confident, but I was a bit worried about the fog when it came to the first prone," Mäkäräinen admitted.

"I was wondering if I could see the targets.

"In the prone I had to be very careful, to take each shot carefully and not miss."

Mäkäräinen was followed by Belarussian biathlete Darya Domracheva, who after incurring one penalty finished 78 seconds behind the Finn, while the podium was complete by Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic, who was 80.9 behind the winner.

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