Germany's cross-country skiers missed their first Olympic relay medal in 16 years, but in the heavy snowfall of Zhangjiakou they recorded their best finish since silver in Turin in 2006.
One day after the surprising second place in the women's relay, the German quartet finished fifth in the victory of the Russian team and was one place better than four years ago in Pyeongchang.
Janosch Brugger (Schluchsee) and Friedrich Moch (Isny) in the classic style as well as Florian Notz (Römerstein) and Lucas Bögl (Gaißach) in the free style were after 4x10 km 2:55.8 minutes behind the ROC selection for double Olympic champion Alexander Bolschunow, which prevailed with a lead of 1:07.2 minutes over Norway.
It was the clearest victory in 30 years. In 1992 in Albertville, the Norwegians led by Björn Dählie won 1:26.7 minutes ahead of Italy.
France took bronze on Sunday (+1:16.4).
Starting runner Brugger had switched to Moch after an outstanding performance in second place.
The only 21-year-old also convinced, but fell back to sixth place against strong competition like the fantastic catching up Finnish 15 km winner Iivo Niskanen with contact to the medal ranks.
Halfway through the race, the DSV quartet was only ten seconds behind bronze, but Notz lost a lot of time on the first freestyle part, and the medal dream was shattered.
But Bögl easily finished fifth - at the home World Championships 2021 in Oberstdorf he was seventh with the DSV quartet.