OSLO, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Austria beat Germany to win the gold of Nordic combined team event at the Nordic world championships after Mario Stecher beat Tino Edelmann in a sprint finish on Monday.

Despite having started the cross-country relay in fourth place, Austria advanced to win in 48 minutes, 7.8 seconds. Germany trailed by 0.4 seconds, and host nation Norway were third, 40.6 seconds back.

Earlier on Monday, triple-Olympic champion Marit Bjoergen proved unstoppable at the Nordic world championships as she won her third personal gold in the women's 10-km classic sprint.

The 30-year-old got the better of Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk with a winning time of 27:39.3 minutes.

Bjoergen's time was 4.1 seconds better than Kowalczyk who settled for silver, while Finland's Aino Kaisa Saarinen took bronze in 27:49.0 minutes.

Bjoergen so far won three golds from as many events she competed at the world championships.

But she went through some pains to win the third gold which moved her to tears.

"I really had to work hard for the victory today," she said. "I was told I was only two seconds behind Kowalczyk towards the end. Then I just went for it."

"I'm touched. I must admit I shed a few tears," she said.

Kowalczyk, who had led for most the race, said she was worn out in the final stage.

"I was 15 seconds ahead of Bjoergen early on, but I was so tired in the last three kilometers," she said.