Tove Alexandersson and Erik Rost clocked an overall winning time of 35min 22sec, holding off Polina Frolova and Andrey Lamov who finished 53 seconds back in the runners-up spot.

Rounding out the podium was Finland's Salla Koskela and Ville Petteri Saarela, the bronze medallists in 37:14.

As one of the favourites, Sweden had something to prove as Alexandersson set off on the first leg.

Her fast pace meant that team-mate Rost was not even ready for her as she skied into the changeover in first position after less than five minutes.

Despite this, Rost managed to sustain their lead and together the Swedes went on to secure the gold medal.

"When I finished the race I was so happy because we won gold and my tiredness went away immediately," Alexandersson said.

"I am glad that I managed to run my first stage and preserve the leading position during the whole distance."

Rost added: "It was enormous pleasure to participate in the race. 

"Great thanks to Russia, everything was organised perfectly.

"The sun was extremely bright today during the competitions.

"It melted the snow a bit and that is why I had to spend more efforts to show high speed results."

Koskela and Petteri Saarela briefly threatened to snatch silver from Russia after moving into second spot in the fifth stage, but the home nation soon reclaimed their position and saw it through.

A total of 15 nations competed today with Norway’s Evine Westli Andersen and Bjornar Kvale coming fourth, followed by Bulgaria’s Antoniya Grigorova and Stanimir Belomazhev in fifth and the Czech Republic’s Hana Hancikova and Radek Laciga in sixth.

Action in Krasnoyarsk is due to continue tomorrow with the men’s and women’s sprint races.