Fresh from success in yesterday’s mixed sprint relay alongside Erik Rost, Alexandersson clocked a winning time of 13 min 54.2sec to beat nearest challenger Polina Frolova of host nation Russia by 7.8 seconds.

Finland’s Salla Koskela was a further 10.1 seconds back in third, meaning the medal-winning countries were exactly the same as those in the mixed sprint relay.

"The race today was a difficult one; from an orienteering point of view the conditions at the course were quite difficult," Alexandersson, who has now won women’s sprint gold at the last four World Ski Orienteering Championships, said.

"I lost precious seconds in some sites at the distance; there were too many ski runs and paths.

"I constantly had to make the right choice and that made for the main difficulty."

It looked as though there would be a Russian podium sweep in the men’s event before final starter Nordberg rocketed to the top of the standings with an unrivalled time of 13:51.4.

That pushed Russia’s Andrey Lamov down to second position in 13:53.1, with compatriots Sergey Gorlanov and Kirill Veselov third and fourth in 14:04.9 and 14:06.2 respectively.

"To be honest, when I finished I was surprised to see my name among the leaders," Nordberg said.

"It was a difficult race - I had to make many difficult decisions.

"I understood that I proceeded along the distance not very quickly, but I also realised that there was no room for error.

"I would like to express my gratitude to the fans.

"When you finish, it is a great pleasure to see so many people supporting you."

Action in Krasnoyarsk is due to continue tomorrow with the women’s middle-distance race.