Having led from start to finish, there was no doubt over their win in the senior race, posting the quickest times on the first three legs with an overall time of 1 hr 21 min 8 seconds.

Second went to Italy after a close tussle with Czech Republic in the early stages who won the bronze medal.

Slovakia and Romania were close between each other in fourth and fifth.

In the junior mixed relay, Russia also won by a clear margin but had to make up for a slow first of four legs where Slovakia took an early lead.

On both women’s legs, Slovakia pulled away by a total of more than three minutes, but Russia’s men propelled them back into the lead on legs two and four winning in a time of 1:30:30, nearly four minutes ahead of their opponents.

Despite a decent opening half, Italy fell away from the front two on leg three and despite a good final leg, would finish over seven minutes behind the winners.