Alex Chervotkin, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov and Sergey Ustiugov proved too strong for their rivals throughout the event, which took place in heavy snow.

Bolshunov, the gold medallist in the men’s skiathlon event, gave the ROC a significant advantage with a storming second leg.

The ROC team finished in a winning time of 1 hr 54min 50.7sec.

"They were instrumental in our victory," said Bolshunov.

"The harder, the more challenging the conditions, the better it gets for us.

"I'm thrilled that we've been able to win in these tough conditions against such experienced opponents.

"This is an immense victory for my team.

"What we've accomplished today should be attributed not only to ourselves but also to those who work behind the scenes - our coaches, our physicians and last but not least, our family."

The ROC were able to celebrate double gold in relay events, following victory for their women's team yesterday.

Norway finished over one minute down to end as the silver medallists, with their team emerging from a five-way battle to be the runners-up.

Their team of Emil Iversen, Pål Golberg, Hans Christer Holund and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo finished in a time of 1:55:57.9.

Bronze was earned by France, with Richard Jouve, Hugo Lapalus, Clément Parisse and Maurice Manificat ending in 1:56:07.1.