The Swedish rider impressed in the heats, with the host country boasting four of the top five fastest times on the course, with local cyclist Martin Setterberg among those impressing.

Linde and Setterberg both made the four-man final, ensuring that the hosts were guaranteed a medal, with the pair looking to see off the challenge of Austria’s Daniel Federspiel and Switzerland’s Patrick Lüthi.

The battle for gold saw a tightly contested duel between Linde and world champion Federspiel, with the former sprinting past his rival in the closing metres to earn the gold medal.

His team-mate Setterberg crossed the line in third position to secure a second medal for the Swedish team.

The women’s final saw Irynia Popova dominate throughout the duration of the event, with the Ukrainian leaving her rivals battling for the minor medals.

Anne Terpstra secured the silver medal for The Netherlands, seeing off competition from Italy’s Anna Oberparleiter.

In the Asian Championships in Chai Nat in Thailand, the host country celebrated gold in the cross-country team telay, with Klahan Athichanan, Peerapol Chawchiangkwang, Keerati Sukprasart and Supaksorn Nuntana finishing in a time of 58min 24sec.

The Chinese team ended more than two minutes behind in 60:29 but it was enough to secure them the silver medal.

Japan sealed bronze after clocking a time of 61:32, while Iran missed out on the podium places after finishing fourth in 62:28.