It was a tense finish in the team event after France left him little room for error in the jumping round but the 23-year-old Olympian performed well under pressure with his horse Grandeur de Lully.

The pair incurred just one time penalty to seal victory, with an overall score of 94.9 points, and the €2,000 (£1,700/$2,100) grand prize at Pratoni del Vivaro.

Godel led the scoring in both the cross-country and show jumping in an inspired display in Italy.

France, led by Athens 2004 gold medallist Nicolas Touzaint, posted a score of 99.1 points for silver, while Sweden made up the podium on 113.6 points.

"It was outstanding," said Switzerland New Zealand's coach Andrew Nicholson, a three-time Olympic medallist and a member of his country's winning World Championships team in 1990. 

"They keep getting better, more confident and are pulling together as a team.

"They are passionate and want to do it and they are making the younger ones hungry, which then pushes the older riders!"

In the individual competition, Godel was once again unstoppable as he ended his campaign with 26.4 points to fend off double Olympic champion Ingrid Klimke of Germany and Touzaint on 27.9 and 29.4 points, respectively.

The competition was used as a test event for this year's FEI World Championships for Eventing set to take place from September 15 to 25.

"It is amazing here, the ground is wonderful, I have never cantered on ground like this," said Godel.

"For the World Championships, we want qualification for Paris 2024 and that’s the main focus and for sure we will be going for the podium too."

Houghton Hall in Britain is scheduled to stage the next leg of the Nations Cup from May 25 to 29.