France claimed their first medal at the 2017 World Ski Championships in St. Moritz thanks to victory in the Team Event on Tuesday.
The discipline which will be part of the Olympic program in Pyeongchang next year sees two women and two men from each nation take on a parallel-slalom course with each race counting towards the result in a knockout tournament.
The French team defeated Slovakia in the final, with Sweden beating hosts Switzerland in the small final to claim bronze.
French guarantee first medal on tough path to the final
Earlier in the competition, Germany were dumped out in the first round, as were the United States who were defeated by Canada in a North American clash.
Then in the quarter-finals, Marcel Hirscher and defending champions Austria were beaten 4-1 by Sweden, with Canada, Italy and Norway also failing to reach the last four.
In the first semi-final, France fought back from a 2-1 deficit to reach the final, with Alexis Pinturault beating Andre Myhrer in the final race to help his team qualify by just 0.06 seconds, guaranteeing the French their first medal of the championships.
The second semi-final saw the surprise package of Slovakia edge out the hosts in another tie which ended 2-2. However, the times of their fastest male and female skier was faster than that of their opponents meaning they took their place in the final
Slovakia fall just short of fairytale gold
In the final, Petra Vlhova gave Slovakia the perfect start with a dominant victory over Tessa Worley, yet the French fought back and were on level terms when Pinturault came from behind to defeat Andreas Zampa.
Slovakia's Veronika Velez Zuzulova helped them surge into a 2-1 lead thanks to a victory over Adeline Baud Mugnier by 0.20 seconds, but once more the French hit back and in a straight race-off for gold, Mathieu Faivre just outreached Matej Falat on the line to claim gold by 0.04 seconds in a photo finish.
In the small final, Sweden stemmed Switzerland's medal run with a 3-1 victory to claim the bronze medal. After winning the first two races to go 2-0 up, it was left to Maria Pietilä Holmner to confirm the destination of the bronze with a win over Camille Rast.