The home team were given an ideal start to the competition when Judith Wyder finished the opening leg in a time of 15min 27sec.

It gave Switzerland a strong 55 second lead over their nearest challengers Austria and the hosts were able to remain clear for the remainder of the event.

Florian Howald was closed during the next leg as the advantage dropped to 24 seconds, but Martin Hubmann stretched it back out to 46 seconds.

Elena Roos would conclude the Swiss effort, as she crossed the line in first place at the end of the fourth leg.

Switzerland finished the competition with an overall time of 1 hour, 2min and 45sec to take the gold medal.

They were followed by Sweden, who were forced to settle for the silver medal.

The Swedish quartet of Lisa Strand, Emil Svensk, Jonas Leandersson and Karolin Ohlsson clocked 1:03.57 for the event.

Norway completed the podium after a strong performance from Andrine Banjaminsen on the final leg of the event.

Banjaminsen would start in sixth position but pulled her team up to third as the Norwegians crossed the line in 1:05.55.

The Czech Republic and Austria were six and 10 seconds behind the bronze medallists respectively.

The event, doubling as an International Orienteering Federation World Cup, continues on Saturday (May 12).