Eckhoff, a gold medallist at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, produced a perfect 10-out-of-10 in the shooting as she recorded a winning time of 21min 18.7sec.

The 30-year-old now has eight world titles, but this was her first sprint crown since 2016.

"Today was really hard on the shooting range and I took some extra time," said Eckhoff, who was part of Norway’s gold-medal winning mixed relay team earlier this week.

"I am really proud to get those black targets down.

"I was pretty tired, but when I shot zero-zero I knew no one could be as good as me.

"But I used a very long time on the shooting today as I knew I had to do my best and fight until the finish.

"I took one more breath to get those targets down and I managed that.

"I was really stiff on the last round, so I was really happy to win."

France’s Anais Chevalier-Bouchet, who had one penalty to her name, took silver in 21:30.7.

Hanna Sola of Belarus shot cleanly to earn her first-ever individual podium, clinching bronze in 21:33.1.

"I probably have not realised yet that I won this medal, but I have been preparing for this moment from the beginning of the season," said Sola.

"I am very happy that I managed to do well in the first competitions at the World Championships.

"It was the first time this season that I shot cleanly.

"I had this big wish to fight, even though the final lap was pretty hard for me.

"I did all I could."

Germany’s Denise Herrmann finished fourth with one penalty, while Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi produced a clean round of shooting to secure a season-best fifth place.

Norway’s Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, with two penalties, came sixth, 43.5 seconds behind her team-mate Eckhoff.

Competition is scheduled to continue tomorrow with the men’s and women’s pursuit events.