Juliya Dzhyma and Iryna Varvynets produced excellent performances in the opening two legs of the event, with the pair hitting all 20 targets to give their team an early lead.

Although they had built up a 24 second advantage over second place Belarus, the Ukrainian team suffered a setback when Valja Semerenko, the reigning mass start world champion, missed one of her prone targets.

The subsequent penalty saw the Ukrainians drop back into the main field, which contained Slovakia and Italy, with Belarus now leading the event.

However, Semerenko made up for her early error by shooting clean during the standing section on route to regaining first positon, prior to the final change.

Olena Pidhrushna was aiming to prevent her team from relinquishing the lead for the second time in the event but fell behind Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier, who had proved instrumental in helping the hosts storm through the field.

Fans were poised for a dramatic conclusion to the race with only two seconds between the pair, as they headed into the final kilometre.

The host nation were left disappointed as Pidhrushna timed her sprint well to claim the victory in a time of one hour, 16min and 14.20sec, with Germany ending 1.2 seconds further back.

"It was a hard last loop, I l know Laura is fast and I know that I would have to fight for every metre and wanted to win,” said Pidhrushna.

“I just held the shortest line to the finish line.

“I really wanted to win, it was a big battle but it is sport."

Italy, who had won the opening relay of the year, were forced to settle for third after ending 43.8 seconds behind the winners, with Russia a further second behind in fourth.

The result leave Italy, Germany and Ukraine tied in the overall rankings on 108 points.