A faultless performance in the shooting range from the French contributed to their 22.8sec winning margin at the Vuokatti Sport Biathlon Stadium.

Amandine Mengin was the first athlete for France, but was only seventh quickest in 19min 52.7sec.

Violette Bony clocked 19:17.3 to move the team into fourth place, before Gaetan Paturel and Lou Thievent guided them to victory in 1 hour 12min 27.8sec.

Paturel was quickest on the third leg with a time of 16:41.3, with Thievent the second-best performer on the final leg in 16:36.5

Czech Republic placed second, with Poland taking third.

The top three's proficiency with the rifle proved decisive, with eighth-placed Switzerland the other team from the top-10 who shot clean.

Kateřina Pavlů, Katerina Gotvaldova, Daniel Malusek and Petr Hak all delivered steady performances to help the Czech's finish in 1:12:50.6, while Poland secured a time of 1:13:26.9 courtesy of Anna Nedza-Kubiniec, Barbara Skrobiszewska, Fabian Suchodolski and Konrad Badacz.

Germany finished fourth, 1:04.1 adrift of the winners France.

Frenchman Thievent had won the boys' individual 12.5km title yesterday.

He collected penalties on his first two visits to the range, but his 36:34.5 effort was 24.5 clear of nearest challenger Badacz from Poland.

Slovakia's Jakub Borgula was third in that event with 37:06.5.

Denmark's Sondre Slettemar was 54.6 off the pace in fourth, while three penalties on the first lap proved costly for Linus Kesper of Germany, who had to settle for fifth in 37:43.5.

Lena Repinc of Slovenia triumphed in the girls individual 10km, picking up just one penalty on her first visit to the range and finishing in 31:34.7.

Sweden's Sara Andersson looked well positioned for victory, but missed twice on the final round of shooting and fell 9.4 short of gold.

Mengin shot clean to take bronze in 31:47.6, while Czech Republic's Pavlů finished fourth in 32:39.9 after four visits to the range without penalties.

In the cross-country skiing action at the Vuokatti Sport Biathlon Stadium, Sweden continued its success with victory in the 4x5km mixed relay.

They clocked 55:27.8, which was 14.6 clear of Italy.

Host nation Finland finished exactly one minute off the pace in third.