For the women, it was Russian Natalia Matveeva who edged in front to claim victory, a first in 10 years for her on the World Cup circuit with her only other victory coming in Dusseldorf.

In the men’s race, the United States’ Simeon Hamilton and Norway’s Sindre Bjoernestad Skar also caused a photo finish, which showed the latter had won.

Matveeva clocked a time of 3 min 04.13sec and topped the podium in the Italian resort ahead of overall sprint competition leader Maiken Caspersen Falla, with the Norwegian being caught in the home straight before losing by just 0.08sec.

Sweden’s Hanna Falk finished third 2.41sec behind the winner.

Falla still leads the sprint World Cup standings on 352 points, 160 ahead of Falk while Matveeva’s win has seen her move to third on 190.

Skar was just 0.03 in front of Hamilton when they crossed the line, clocking a time of 2:47.91 to win the race.

Another Norwegian, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, filled the remaining place on the podium as he finished 0.66 behind his team-mate.

Paal Golberg came seventh today and this was enough for him to get ahead of Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov, who claimed the Tour de Ski crown last weekend, in the sprint World Cup standings.

Golberg, from Norway, sits on 190 points while Ustiugov, who came 70^th after a fall in qualification, on 182.

Finn Haagen Krogh completes the top three with the Norwegian on 165.

Tomorrow’s action will feature team races in both the men and women’s events.