Russia won three gold medals on the opening day to lead at the 25th Winter University Games on Saturday while South Korea dominated on the ice with two golds.

Alia Iksanova pocketed the first gold medal of the competitions as the Russian won the women's individual 5km classic of the cross-country skiing, timing 14 minutes and 45.700 seconds.

Her compatriot Vladislav Skobelev took the men's 10km gold by 25:43.100.

In the men's freestyle skiing moguls, Russia's Aleksandr Kerner scored the best 23.05 points to cross the finishing line by the second-best result, 20.24 seconds, to win the gold.

The women's event was won by Kazakhstan's as she finished atop by 21.48 points and 21.73 seconds.

Switzerland's Thomas Schmid ran the best 27 minutes and 53.800 seconds to win the men's Nordic Combined sprint.

Powerhouse South Korea beat arch-rivals China on both the men's and women's 1,500m short-track speed skating, won five of the six medals of the day.

China's Li Jianrou stole a bronze medal in the women's event to avoid a medal sweep of the South Koreans.

Lee Eun-Byul and Jung Ba-Ra finished 1-2 in the women's event, while Kim Hwan-Ee spirnt first in the men's.