Thingnes Boe led from the front for the majority of the race as he shot clean on his way to finishing in a time of 23mins 59.2 seconds, 24.5 seconds ahead of closest challenger Simon Schempp.

The podium was largely dominated by Germans as Schempp's teammate Arnd Peiffer was third, 57.5 seconds off the lead.

Russia's Anton Shipulin, who was integral to his nation's relay win in Oberhof, finished fourth while Latvia's Andrejs Rastorgujev claimed fifth.

It was a disappointing afternoon however for yellow and red bib holder Martin Fourcade, who came 25th with two penalties.

The event started in difficult conditions for the biathletes as the snow continued to fall amid freezing temperatures, and it was Shipulin who raced into an early lead following a clean and fast prone.

Despite Boe's (centre) victory the podium was largely dominated by Germany who took second and third ©Getty Images



Thingnes Boe responded however and led by 11.3 seconds after the first prone stage, which he soon increased to 46.5 seconds following the second standing stage as he extended his advantage over the rest of the field.

A lot of the competitors were shooting clean and Arnd Peiffer delighted the home crowd by enjoying a problem-free prone stage, although he still languished 18 seconds behind Boe.

While Boe had the victory almost certainly sewn up, an interesting battle for second was developing between the German team mates, which was eventually won by Schempp as he pulled away from Peiffer in the latter stages of the race.

But the day belonged to the Norwegian powerhouse, who also played a key role in Norway's relay win on Thursday (January 15), as his controlled performance saw him ease to a comfortable victory.