Norway ended Japan's six-year reign in the Nordic combined Olympic team competition Friday with an overwhelming 78-second victory in the 4 x 5-kilometer cross country leg.

Norway anchor Fred Boerre Lundberg skied with his country's flag during the last kilometer and coasted across the finish line in a combined time of 54 minutes, 11.5 seconds.

Finland, the leader by a thin margin after Thursday's ski jumping leg, won the silver while France took the bronze 1:41 back. It was the first-ever medals in this event for both countries.

Austria, which started the race four seconds behind Finland, sank to fourth overall after its leadoff skier Christoph Eugen crashed on a sharp decline midway through his leg on the rain-washed Snow Harp course in Hakuba.

The Japanese hosts finished fifth more than two minutes behind despite spirited skiing by the Ogiwara twins. Japan won gold at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics and was ninth in the inaugural event in 1988.

The Norwegians Friday demonstrated the same dominating form they have shown throughout this season. The victory also was especially sweet for Lundberg, who was on his country's silver medal squad the last two Olympics.

''The other three teammates were so fast, it made my job really easy,'' Lundberg said. He began the final leg with a 77-second advantage over Finland and kept it until the end.

Asked whether the new Olympic format -- four-man teams and less time advantage based on jumping results -- played any factor in their success, Lundberg responded, ''We were the best team today, it didn't

matter.''

Beginning the cross country leg eight seconds behind pace-setter Finland, the Norwegians charged into the lead five kilometers into the race thanks to strong skiing by Halldor Skard Jr. and never looked back.

With Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in attendance, the mostly Japanese crowd roared as leadoff skier Tsugiharu Ogiwara moved from fifth place to third at the 5-km mark. Second man Satoshi Mori also skied well to keep Japan within striking distance of a medal.

But the home team's medal chances vanished in the third leg, when Gen Tomii was overhauled by the French, Austrian and German skiers following a fierce battle among the four countries.

A visibly tired Tomii slogged to the exchange area and finally tapped the back of Kenji Ogiwara, who began his chase of Finland more than two minutes behind.

Ogiwara, the defending world champion and member of Japan's two previous Olympic champion squads, outstripped Germany's Jens Deimel in the final stretch and crossed the line in 56:18.8.

Ogiwara, at 28 one of the oldest Nordic combined skiers here, ended the Olympics without fulfilling his goal of winning an individual medal but hinted this was not the end of his career.

''These were frustrating results because I moved here to Nagano with an aim to win,'' he said. ''But actually, now, the desire to win is burning stronger inside me more than ever.'' (Kyodo News)

Final results of Nordic combined team after the 4x5-kilometer cross country race Friday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture:

1. Norway (Halldor Skard, Kenneth Braaten, Bjarte Vik, Fred Lundberg) 54 minutes, 3.5 seconds (3rd after jumping competition)

2. Finland (Samppa Lajunen, Jari Mantila, Tapio Nurmela, Hannu Manninen) 1 minute, 18.9 seconds behind (1st)

3. France (Sylvain Guillaume, Nicolas Bal, Ludovic Roux, Fabrice Guy) 1:41.9 behind (6th)

4. Austria (Christoph Eugen, Christoph Bieler, Mario Stecher, Felix Gottwald) 1:53.1 behind (2nd)

5. Japan (Tsugiharu Ogiwara, Satoshi Mori, Gen Tomii, Kenji Ogiwara) 2:07.3 behind (5th)

6. Germany (Matthias Looss, Ronny Ackermann, Thorsten Schmitt, Jens Deimel) 2:10.5 behind (7th)

7. Switzerland (Marco Zarucchi, Andi Hartmann, Jean-Yves Cuendet, Urs Kunz) 2:30.1 behind (10th)

8. Czech Republic (Marek Fiurasek, Milan Kucera, Jan Matura, Ladislav Rygl) 2:53.2 behind (4th)

9. Russia (Vladimir Lyssenin, Valerij Stoljarov, Alexei Fadeev, Dmitrij Sinitzyn) 4:22.7 behind (8th)

10. United States (John Jarrett, Tim Tetreault, Bill Demong, Todd Lodwick) 4:27.1 behind (9th)

11. Estonia (Ago Markvardt, Jens Salumae, Tambet Pikkor, Magnar Freimuth) 9:21.4 behind (11th)