The team of Lars Helge Birkeland, Tarjei Bø, Emil Hegle Svendsen and Johannes Thingnes Bø clocked a combined time of 1hr 13min 11.1sec to secure their eighth victory in 11 relays held in the German resort.

The France team, comprised of Simon Desthieux, Quentin Fillon Maillet, reigning World Cup champion Martin Fourcade and Antonin Guiggonat, were 24.9 seconds adrift of the Norwegian quartet in second.

The bronze medal was claimed by the Russian team of Alexey Volkov, Maxim Tsvetkov, Anton Babikov and Anton Shipulin as they earned the country's first podium finish of the season.

Johannes Thingnes Bø was the man to lead Norway to a deserved triumph as he anchored the team to victory.

"I was in a good position to start," he said. 

"I knew that on paper I was stronger than them, so I tried to get a gap before the first shooting. 

"A lot of things were good today but I have to admit my standing was the worst this year.

"I think this was the first time I finished with the flag, so that was a good feeling."

The French team gambled by electing Fourcade to run the third leg instead of the anchor and it did not pay off as they were forced to settle for silver.

"It was team decision; many things can happen in the winter; I can get sick so we wanted to see what he could do," the double Olympic gold medallist said.

"Antonin was a good one but not at his best today. 

"We are really happy that we could fight with them.”

The event continues tomorrow in Ruhpolding with the women's 4x6km relay race.