The German biathlon men remained without a relay medal at the Olympic Winter Games, as they did in 2010.
Erik Lesser, Roman Rees, Benedikt Doll and Philipp Nawrath had to settle for fourth place at the Winter Games in Beijing on Tuesday after a penalty loop in the last standing stage and nine spare rounds.
After 4 x 7.5 kilometers, the quartet of the German Ski Association was 1:04.3 minutes behind Olympic champion Norway.
Silver went to France in Zhangjiakou, bronze went to the Russian team.
Germany won silver in Sochi in 2014 and bronze in Pyeongchang four years ago.
The Skijäger last won gold in 2006 in Turin and have been waiting for another big coup since the 2015 World Cup title in Finland.
After eight of a total of eleven races, the ski hunters still have one medal.
In the first individual race, Denise Herrmann surprisingly won gold over 15 kilometers for women.
On Wednesday (8.45 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics as well as on ARD and Eurosport), the women's relay team has their next chance at a medal in the mountains north-west of Beijing.