Gross praise for Roesch

"Michael Roesch produced an amazing race," Gross told Eurosport. "He had an old head on young shoulders and handled things intelligently."

Gross also shot coolly to stay with the frantic early pace of American Jay Hakkinen as major rivals Russia and defending champions Norway suffered on the range.

"I think that it was nearly a perfect race from all of us," said Gross. "As for me, it was important to do well with regard to the other big nations like Russia and Norway.

"And I was able to leave France behind, too. This really was very important. Yes, this simply was a great race, today."

Surprisingly, it was Sprint gold medallist Sven Fischer who wavered with the rifle, even being forced onto the penalty loop only for his closest challengers to also shoot wildly.

"I had a penalty at the standing shoot, but at that time there was a lot of trouble at the shooting range," said Fischer, who gave anchor leg man Michael Greis enough in hand to hold off Russia's Nikolay Kruglov. "That was why I could keep the advantage, and I was able to hold onto that at the changeover."

The triumph saw Fischer complete a hat-trick of relay golds as Germany reclaimed the title they won in 1994 and 1998, and the 34-year-old insisted the magic of an Olympic team win has not worn off.

"The relay really is something special," he said. "If you can be on top of the podium, you are rewarded for all the hard work put in by the team. And this is really huge."

Torino 2006 schedule/results