Temperatures of six degrees created a lot of soft snow on the ground, making it difficult for athletes to tackle several parts of the Bulgarian course including the steep climbs and descents.

There were even some parts of the course with no snow at all, despite the organisers' efforts to reconstruct the tracks.

This, however, did not seem to bother two-time World Championship gold medallist Kechkina, who completed the 14.6 kilometre course in a time of 1 hour 13min and 10sec to clinch gold.

Sweden's Magdalena Olsson claimed silver thanks to a time of 1:16.57 with Kechkina's compatriot Anastasia Kravchenko completing the podium line-up with a time of 1:18.39.

Despite being the fastest athlete over the first 3.7km, Sweden's Alexandersson could only finish fifth in a time of 1:20.53.

There was still a win for Sweden to celebrate in the men's event, however, as Erik Rost claimed long-distance gold thanks to his time of 1:33.48 over the 19.8km course.

Stanimir Belomazhev, of host nation Bulgaria, improved on his bronze in the middle-distance by taking silver in the long-distance thanks to a time of 1:34.39.

Norway’s Øyvind Watterdal was just 0.8 seconds behind in the bronze medal position.

Tomorrow's relay race will be the final day of the competition, which is doubling as the second round of the International Orienteering Federation Ski Orienteering World Cup.