The Norwegian men's team of Carl Godager Kaas, Olav Lundanes and Magne Dæhli ran very impressively throughout their race to take the title.

On the first leg Kaas was able to establish an early lead and he gradually extended it through different terrain after the arena passage.

At the changeover he was 0.54 seconds in front of Switzerland's Fabian Hertner and 1min 41sec ahead of third-placed Kris Jones of Great Britain.

The second leg was also dominated by Norway, with long distance individual champion Lundanes completing a very successful personal Championships by extending his country’s lead.

Switzerland and Finland managed to hold on to second and third place, 3.38 and 3.44sec behind respectively, with Britain and Sweden just adrift.

Dæhli then had his lead cut by Matthias Kyburz, the very experienced last-leg runner for Switzerland.

But the Norwegian increased his speed, meaning Kyburz never got close to catching him.

Dæhli continued with an error-free run, taking safe routes, and completed an emphatic win for Norway, their first in the men’s class since 2005.

Switzerland and Sweden duly ran in to take silver and bronze respectively. 

"The two other boys did an incredible job, but I felt nervous," said Dæhli.

"It’s the toughest situation I have been put into in sport, but it would have been even tougher if the gap hadn’t been so big."

In the women's race, Natalia Gemperle led Russia to the finish of an exciting race and to their first-ever relay gold medal.

Heidi Bagstevold of Norway dominated the early running, but at the first changeover four teams - Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Russia - were grouped together at the front with Latvia and Finland close behind.

A host of errors throughout the race gave Gemperle a 15-second lead as she approached the closing stages, and from then on it was always going to be Russian gold.

Svetlana Mironova, a member of the Russian team, won the individual long distance title two years ago and has now added relay gold too.

“When we were in the quarantine, we heard that a lot of mistakes were being made in the men’s race," she said, with Anastasia Rudnaya completing the trio. 

"We decided we had to run carefully and without mistakes."