A team consisting consisting of Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Vetle Sjastad Christiansen, Henrik L’Abee-lund and Emil Hegle Svendsen only managed to overhaul Russia on the final leg after a fierce dual.

Svendsen eventually crossed the line in first place in a time of 1 hour 13min 40.7sec.

Russia's Anton Babikov finished just 5.1seconds behind in second place after losing a 40 second lead during his run.

Norway's final leg charge was particularly impressive considering how Svendsen began in third place, also trailing Simon Schempp of Germany.

"When I went into the last loop, I thought mostly about Simon Schempp," he said.

"I wanted to keep him back, [but then] I saw that I was closer and closer to Babikov.

"I am very happy to continue the streak of good results. 

"This is the third time Norwegian team is winning men’s relay in Ruhpolding."

Schempp also shot clean but the Germans had to settle for third place in front of their home crowd.

They finished 23.5 seconds behind the Norwegians.

Ukraine finished fourth, 28 seconds back, ahead of Czech Republic, a further 4.2 seconds in arrears.

Action is set to continue in the German resort with the women's 4x6km relay tomorrow.