Simon spearheaded the French quartet, which also included Anais Chevalier-Bouchet, Chloe Chevalier and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, to the gold medal in a total time of 1hr 10min and 50sec.

The French team only needed two spare rounds as they completed the 4x6 kilometres course 35.1 seconds clear of nearest challengers Sweden.

Russia finished third, thanks largely to Kristina Reztsova's anchor leg, but they were more than a minute adrift of France.

Germany ended just outside of the podium places as they crossed the line in fourth.

"I am really proud of all the team," Simon said.

"They did a really great job… so I needed to be a really good job too.

"We only had one mistake (spare round) for each racer, so it was a perfect race for us. 

"It is so nice to be on the top place…it is nice to be on the podium but with a good race, it is really nice."

The men's 4x7.5km relay is due to take centre stage when the World Cup at the German venue resumes tomorrow.