The German team, which won silver, was 18.2 seconds behind. The Swedish team, which got bronze, was 20.7 seconds behind.
Russians Yulia Stupak, Natalia Nepryaeva, Tatyana Sorina and Veronika Stepanova won the relay on Saturday. Second place was taken by the Germans, and the Swedes placed third. After the race, the head of the Russian Ski Racing Federation, Elena Vyalbe, approached the finish line and congratulated the Russian athletes.
The last time Russian skiers won the relay at the Olympic Games was in 2006 (Natalya Baranova-Masalkina, Larisa Kurkina, Yulia Chepalova, Evgenia Medvedeva-Arbuzova). Nepryaeva won her second medal at the Beijing Games, before that she took the silver medal in the skiathlon. After the skiathlon, Stupak announced her possible retirement.
Beijing is hosting the 2022 Olympic Games from 4-20 February and the Paralympic Games from 4-13 March.