The Swedish team were in contention for gold throughout the duration of the event, with Linn Persson and Mona Brorsson placing them third at the halfway mark.

The ROC had a cushion of 27 seconds over Sweden heading into the third leg of the event, but the race swung when Svetlana Mironova faltered with several shots at the shooting range.

Hanna Öberg took full advantage, with the Swedish biathlete missing only one shot at her visit, turning a deficit into an advantage.

Öberg handed over to her sister Elvira with the lead, which the sprint and pursuit silver medallist preserved to ensure victory in 1 hour 11min 3.9sec.

"I really felt before today that I didn't want to be the only one coming home with a medal," said Elvira Öberg.

"I really wanted to share it with someone else and now I got to ski over the finish line and deliver a gold for us - and this is really a team effort.

"I've been really happy with my own medals so far, but to be able to share this with Hanna and the rest of the team, it's unbeatable.

"Today I focused on my race and did my thing because I knew it was good enough.

"I didn't have to overachieve today, I just had to do a stable race and I managed to do that.

"I am really proud of how I managed to handle the situation."

The ROC team of Irina Kazakevich, Kristina Reztsova, Mironova and Uliana Nigmatullina finished as the runners-up.

The quartet completed the event in 1:11:15.9.

Bronze was earned by Germany, with Vanessa Voigt, Vanessa Hinz, Franziska Preuß and Denise Herrmann crossing the line in a time of 1:11.41.3.