Germany won the first gold medal on offer on Tuesday at the Winter Olympics, claiming the men's 4x7.5km biathlon relay title.

The team of Ricco Gross, Michael Roesch, Sven Fischer and Michael Greis finished in a time of one hour 21mins 51.5secs, beating Russia by just under 21 seconds.

Victory completed a fine double for Fischer who had already won gold in the 10km individual sprint, while Gross was winning the fourth Olympic gold of his career.

France pipped Sweden to the bronze medal.