Lollobrigida earned a narrow victory in the women's competition as she held off the challenge of her team-mate Francesca Bettrone by 0.05 seconds to win in a time of 8min 38.69sec in the Russian city.

The podium was rounded off by Austria's Vanessa Herzog who completed the event in a time of 8:39.33 to take bronze.

It added to her victory in the women's 500m event on the opening day of the Championships.

Blokhuijsen secured the men's mass start title in another closely fought competition, with the Dutchman clocking 8:23.19.

He was followed by Italy's Andrea Giovannini and Russia's Ruslan Zakharov, who earned the minor medals in times of 8:23.28 and 8:23.37 respectively.

There was delight for the host nation as their men's and women's squads triumphed in the team sprint competitions.

Russia's women's team achieved a time of 1:26.71 to earn gold with The Netherlands finishing 1.94 off the pace to secure silver.

Bronze was claimed by Norway in a time of 1:31.88.

The home crowd were also able to cheer the Russian men's team to sprint success, with the hosts clocking 1:19.38.

Finland and Poland completed the podium places in 1:21.19 and 1:21.29 respectively following a disqualification for the Dutch team.

The Netherlands would not be denied in the team pursuit competitions with their men's squad topping the standings in a time of 3:42.79.

Russia were 1.80 seconds off the winner's pace to take the silver medal, while Poland ended the event in 3:42.79 for bronze.

The Dutch also finished as the victors in the women's event following their team managing a time of 2:59.34.

Times of 3:01.88 and 3:05.03 were enough for Russia and Germany to earn the minor medals in the discipline.