Little separated the pair throughout the duration of the men’s sitting 7.5 kilometres sprint competition, with five missed shots preventing Golubkov from moving clear of Fleig.

The Russian eventually claimed the victoryas he crossed three seconds clear in 26min 10sec.

Fleig was forced to settle for the silver medal and the United States’ Andrew Soule completed the podium by finishing the event in 26:55.

Russian success continued in the men’s visually impaired event as Stanislav Chokhlaev was guided to victory Oleg Kolodiichuk in 24:34.

They were followed home by their team-mates Nikolay Polukhin and Andrey Tokarev, winners of the silver medal in 24:57.

The podium was completed by Ukraine’s Iurii Utkin and Ruslan Perekhoda in 25:42.

Benjamin Daviet shot clean to win the men’s standing in 23:47.

Russia’s Aleksandr Pronkov and Vladislav Lekomtsev completed the podium in 25:35 and 26:12 respectively.

Ukraine enjoyed gold and silver medals in the women’s 6km standing, as Oleksandra Kononova defeated her team-mate Liudmyla Liashenko by nearly two minutes by crossing the line in 23:23.

Russia’s Anna Milenina was able to complete the podium positions by finishing in 27:01.

The top two positions in the visually impaired event were also claimed by Ukrainian biathletes, with Oksana Shyshkova and guide Vitalii Kazakov winning in 24:11.

Olga Prylutska and Borys Babar sealed silver in 24:57, with home hopefuls Vivian Hosch and Florian Schillinger earning the bronze medal in 26:17.

Her compatriot Irina Guliaeva secured gold in the women’s sitting after completing the course in 24:05, with the United States’ Oksana Masters ending 36 seconds adrift to win silver.

The podium was completed by another Russian, Nadezhda Fedorova in 25:12.