February 16, 2014  (Krasnaya Polyana, Russia) – Sweden delivered a stellar performance in the men’s 4x10km relay taking an early lead in the first Classic leg and held on to it throughout the race to win a decisive gold with a comfortable 27.3-second margin as they defended their Olympic title in style.

Lars Nelson, Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson and Marcus Hellner matched their female counterparts for double relay gold in Sochi, last accomplished by the Soviet Union at the 1972 Games in Sapporo, Japan.

As Russian president Vladimir Putin looked on, Maxin Vylegzhahin pulled out all the stops on the final climb to claim the silver ahead of France’s Ivan Perrillat Boiteux to delight of local fans who were finally rewarded for their loyalty.

It was a big day for the French team to land on the final relay podium and also claim their 100th medal in the history of the Olympic Winter Games.

The veteran Norwegian team had a lackluster day as Martin Johnsrud Sundby brought the team back from ninth to sixth as he tagged Petter Jr. Northug who passed Czech skier, Dusan Kozisek, and then duked it out with Italy’s David Hoffer (ITA) coming out ahead to finish fourth with Italy fifth.

Canada and the USA battled it out with their own neighbourly rivalry as Jesse Cockney described it. “I really just wanted to beat the Americans, kind of a return to the Junior Worlds relay battle of CAN vs USA but unfortunately I wasn’t able to hold my end of the bargain and Simi Hamilton got me. Still I was really happy to be part of the race.”

The Americans finished on top placing 11th at 4:33.1 off the gold while Canada followed them into the stadium close on their heels in 12th at 4:37.0.

Full results here.