Home favourite Ivan Lyuft ended Russia’s domination of the cross-country skiing events at the 2017 Winter Universiade after holding off Vladimir Frolov and Egor Berezin to take the men’s sprint classic title ©Almaty 2017

Home favourite Ivan Lyuft ended Russia’s domination of the cross-country skiing events here at the 2017 Winter Universiade after holding off Vladimir Frolov and Egor Berezin to take the men’s sprint classic title.

Following Maria Davydenkova’s win in the equivalent women’s event just moments earlier, Russia went into the final with five gold medals from as many competitions in the discipline.

However, Kazakh Lyuft prevented that from becoming six as he triumphed in a time of 3 min 53.60sec at the Alatau Cross-Country Skiing and Biathlon Complex.

Frolov was 0.70sec behind in the runners-up spot, while fellow Russian Berezin finished 0.97 off the pace in third.

Russia's Maria Davydenkova won the women's sprint classic ©Getty Images
Russia's Maria Davydenkova won the women's sprint classic ©Getty Images

Davydenkova was a strong performer throughout the women’s sprint classic event and it was no surprise when she comfortably won the final in 3:18.95.

Nearest challenger and compatriot Lilia Vasilieva, the women’s 5km individual classic gold medallist and 5km pursuit free silver medallist, was a sizeable 2.39 back.

Kazakhstan’s Anna Stoyan finished 7.11 behind in the bronze-medal position.

Cross-country skiing action is due to resume on Saturday (February 4), with the mixed team sprint event scheduled.