The five-time Olympic champion led a Norwegian podium sweep in Oberhof as he missed just one shot in the foggy conditions to set a time of 23min 21.7sec.

His finish put him 14.8 seconds clear of his clean-shooting older brother Tarjei while Sturla Holm Laegreid bagged bronze 39.9 seconds off the pace.

"It cannot get any better," said the winning Bø.

"It was the best race I could do in the fog here today.

"With bib one, when you cross the finish line, you just have to wait and see the others; it’s painful.

"I pushed with all the power I had.

"I put it in the poles and tried to reach the finish line.

"In the end it was important because Tarjei was skiing his best performance as well.

"So having a double for the family…that’s crazy!"

Today's win was Bø's third World Championships sprint title, having previously won in 2015 and 2020.

He shot cautiously today in the fog and was off to a slow start with a miss from the prone position which saw the faster and more accurate Laegreid take an early lead.

However, Bø recovered with a quick and flawless standing stage which propelled him into the last lap where he successfully chased down Laegreid.

"I knew I was losing time; it was a really dark message to get from the coaches, because you think something is wrong with you and you are just bad," said Laegreid.

"I managed to cross the finish line even though I was very tired and did not have the power in the last loop that I wanted."

The action is set to continue tomorrow with two gold medals on offer in the women's 10km pursuit and men's 12.5km pursuit.