Holmgren prevailed in a thrilling race as he pulled away with two laps remaining before recording a time of 1 hour 17min 59sec at the Club Deportivo Universidad Católica.

The race saw riders complete seven laps of the 5km track with Chile's Martín Vidaurre Kossmann finishing 52 seconds off the pace for the silver medal.

Brazil's Jose Gabriel Marques de Almeida rounded out the top three in 1:20:13 to deny his compatriot Ulan Bastos Galinski of bronze.

Holmgren is the first Canadian man to win the discipline since Raphaël Gangé at Toronto 2015.

"We've raced each other all season long in the World Cup circuit," the world number 34 said of Vidaurre Kossmann.

"I spent the first few laps figuring out where he was strong, maybe where I was stronger, and then put it to work."

Holmgren's compatriot Jennifer Jackson clinched the women's cross-country title as she crossed the line in 1:20:35.

Jackson was followed by Chilean Catalina Vidaurre and Raiza Goulão of Brazil in 1:23:20 and 1:24:57, respectively.

She claimed that seeing Holmgren win gave her extra determination to win.

"It feels like a perfect day," Jackson said.

"There's just that little bit of [motivation], seeing one of your friends, someone you grew up riding with achieve the best result they could here.

"It just made me believe it's my turn.

"I just got to the front set my pace and just tried to have a really calm ride.

"It was perfect."

Canada also sealed a podium sweep at Toronto 2015 with Gangé being joined by Emily Batty at the home Games.