Norway’s Marit Bjoergen became the most successful athlete in Winter Games history while 15-year-old Alina Zagitova stole the show in figure skating on Wednesday as American skier Lindsey Vonn took bronze in her final Olympic downhill.

Bjoergen reached 14 Olympic medals when she took bronze in cross-country skiing’s women’s team sprint free, outstripping compatriot Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who has 13 in biathlon.

Bjoergen, 37, is also the second most successful woman at either the Summer or Winter Games, trailing only Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina with 18 medals.

“It’s hard to understand, actually,” Bjoergen said.

“I think I’ll need to have time to myself and look behind me and look how I’ve been able to do this. It’s still hard to understand it when I’m standing here.”

There was disappointment for the United States when their men’s ice hockey team, missing NHL players after a row over money, crashed out 3-2 in the quarter-finals against the Czech Republic.

In other action, Russian skier Sergey Ridzik recovered from a crash in the ski cross final to take bronze, behind Canada’s Bredy Leman and Marc Bischofberger of Switzerland.

Ridzik went down early in the race but he got up, clambered to the top of a slope and restarted his run, coming in behind the front two as Canada’s Kevin Drury failed to finish.

The competition, where four skiers race each other down a twisting track featuring a number of jumps, was marred by a series of heavy falls.

France’s Terence Tchiknavorian broke his leg and Canadian racer Chris Del Bosco was also taken to hospital after a sickening wipe-out.

With AFP inputs