The host nation Sweden had led after the first leg of the relay, which saw the two female athletes tackle a six kilometre route, before the men competed over 7.5km.

A chasing group of Norway, Germany, France and Italy looked to chase down the leaders, with the latter nation eventually moving into pole position after an excellent leg from Dorothea Wierer.

Norway, who began with Marte Olsbu and Fanny Horn Birkeland, would charge through the field during the third leg of the competition.

Their legendary biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who cancelled his plans to retire at the end of last season, then built an advantage.

The 42-year-old eight-time Olympic champion passed over to Johannes Thingnes Boe with a lead 25 seconds, with the Norwegian team ultimately easing to the first gold medal of the IBU World Cup season in a time of 1hour, 8min and 14sec.

Germany would finish 33 seconds back to end as the runners-up, with Italy completing the podium by crossing a further 11 seconds down.

"The last leg is very hard, and I haven’t done it so many times," Boe said afterwards.

"When I was starting alone, the pressure was off, and I wanted to do my own race.

"I tried to gain some seconds from the very start."

The single mixed relay event was won by the France paring of Marie Dorin Habert and Martin Fourcade, with the duo ending in 35min 43sec.

Austria and Germany would finish on the podium after ending 16 and 25 seconds off the pace respectively.

The Östersund leg of the World Cup season, the first of the campaign, will resume on November 30 with the women's individual 15km race.