updated 8:25 a.m. ET Feb. 18, 2006

PRAGELATO, Italy - Julija Tchepalova tapped teammate Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova on the shoulder for the final exchange and they briefly made eye contact. The Russians knew they were back in the race.

Trailing the leading Germans by 12½ seconds in challenging conditions, Medvedeva-Abruzova had a huge task in the women’s 4x5km relay Saturday.

“I must say when I was watching the first and second legs I thought in the very best case we could hope for third place,” Medvedeva-Abruzova said. “At the handover, I realized she was already in third place. We made eye contact and she gave me all her force, and then I gave all my force.”

That force was enough for Medvedeva-Abruzova to overtake the Germans and skate alone through the final stretch of the stadium, lifting Russia to gold.

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Light snowfall for the second straight day in the Italian Alps again made for tough conditions for wax technicians, but it didn’t stop the Russians from regaining their supremacy in the relay event. Russia or the Soviet Union have now won five of the last six Olympic women’s relay events.

Claudia Kuenzel of defending champion Germany dropped out of the top three after surrendering the lead, but fought back to cross second for the silver, 10 seconds behind Russia’s winning time of 54 minutes, 47.7 seconds.

“For us to win at the Olympic Games is a very great achievement because it brings us back to the old times when we were also winning,” said Tchepalova, in second place in the World Cup standings. “Today’s race was very difficult, especially at the beginning. The first two legs were a catastrophe.”

Italy came in 1 second after Germany to take the bronze. Sweden was fourth and favored Norway fifth.

Germany’s Evi Sachenbacher pulled away in the third leg and gave her team a respectable lead going into the last leg, but Kuenzel couldn’t keep up with Medvedeva-Abruzova’s all-out effort.

The Russian slowed down slightly and blew kisses to the crowd before crossing the finish line.

Kuenzel was caught by the pack about 2.5 kilometers from the end, and with one kilometer to go, Germany’s hopes of a medal appeared dashed as she dropped to fourth. But she recovered to edge out Italy’s Sabina Valbusa for silver.

“I was in a bit of panic,” Kuenzel said. “I am not so strong on the uphill. But then came the long final straight and I can do that.”

All four athletes ski 5 kilometers in the mass-start event in which the first two skiers use classical technique and the last two are allowed to skate.

Japan led Finland and Norway after the first exchange, but No. 2 skier Masako Ishida lost the position and fell during her leg, dropping back to ninth in the 17-team field. Germany’s second skier, Viola Bauer, led for much of the second loop but Finland emerged ahead going into the exchange.

During the third leg, Finland’s Liisa Riitta Lassila lost control and nearly went off course and into the fence — providing Sachenbacher with the perfect chance to surge ahead.

Norway coach Svein Tore Samdal predicted big things from his skiers once they were all healthy again, so this was a disappointing finish for the foursome that included World Cup leader Marit Bjorgen.

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“There were just four teams that were better than we were,” Samdal said. “Our best athlete (Bjorgen) had not recovered from the last race and we had no more power.”

Kristin Stormer Steira, Hilde Pedersen, Kristin Murer Stemland were the team’s other members. Norway earned silver in the Salt Lake City Olympics.

On Thursday, Norway earned the silver and bronze and a fourth-place finish in the 10km classical race. Bjorgen took the silver, while the 41-year-old Pedersen won bronze and became the oldest woman to win a medal at an Olympic Winter Games.

“I’m not in good shape, so today was very hard,” Bjorgen said.

The Canadian team of Beckie Scott, Sara Renner, Milaine Theriault and Amanda Ammar finished 10th, while the U.S. team was 14th.

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