Russia's Andrey Sobakarev won gold for Russia in the men's under-23 cross country event at the FIS Nordic Junior World Championships ©Getty Images

Andrey Sobakarev and Anna Zherebyateva of Russia won the men and women's under-23 cross-country events at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Nordic Junior World Championships in Lahti.

Russian athletes completely dominated the podium in the men's 30 kilometres event, with Sobakarev winning in 1 hour 17min 19.1sec.

His compatriots Ivan Kirillov and Ivan Yakimushkin finished in second and third places, with times of 1:17:22.6 and 1:17:24.0 respectively. 

Zherebyateva won the women's 15km race in 40min 31.4sec, with her compatriot Lidia Durkina adding a silver medal to Russia's tally after finishing in 40:54.9.

Germany's Katharina Hennig was in third with a time of 41:08.9.

"This gold medal is an important step for my sport career," said Zherebyateva.

There was also a Nordic combined under-23 event taking place, with participants competing in the men's 4x5km team race.

Germany triumphed, scoring the highest amount of jump points with 460.7 and then recording the fastest race time in 53:16.4. 

Norway came in second after recording a time of 53:30.7.

Austria finished third in 53:38.9.

The FIS Nordic Junior World Championships are due to continue tomorrow with the women's 4x3.3km and men's 4x5km relay cross country events and the men's team ski jumping.