The team of Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Henrik L’Abee Lund, Erlend Bjoentegaard and Lars Helge Birkeland combined well in freezing temperatures to win in 1 hour 21min 21.80sec.

This proved enough for a huge winning margin of nearly two minutes after building a big lead in the second and third legs.

Birkeland then produced a superb performance as the wind blew harder on the second leg to stretch the lead further.

It illustrated the remarkable strength in depth of Norway given the absence of Emil Hegle Svendsen and brothers Johannes Thingnes and Tarjei Bø. 

Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Pfeifer and Simon Schempp of Germany combined for a distant second place.

Jean-Guillaume Beatrix, Simon Desthieux, Emilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon-Maillet of France took the bronze medal, 2:34 behind the winners.

Germany enjoyed better fortunes in the women's 4x6km relay as they repeated their victory in the corresponding event last season.

Vanessa Hinz, Franziska Hildebrand, Maren Hammerschmidt and Laura Dahlmeier combined for a time of 1:14:36.40.

Ukraine's team of Veta and Valj Semerenko, Yuliia Dzhima and Olena Pidhrushna remained level after two legs but then fell back to finish second, 44.9 seconds behind.

Marie Dorin-Habert, Celia Aymonier, Justine Braisaz and Anais Bescond of France placed third.

They eventually crossed 1:04.50 behind the winners.

The next round of the IBU World Cup is due to start in Annecy-Le Grand Bornard in France on Thursday (December 14).