Norwegian biathlon star Ole Einar Bjoerndalen yesterday won a record 13th medal at the Winter Olympics by taking gold in the mixed relay at the Sochi Games.

Bjoerndalen now holds the record outright after overtaking his compatriot, the cross country ski legend Bjoern Daehlie, who won 12 medals.

The 40-year-old Bjoerndalen has now also won eight gold medals at Winter Olympics, equalling Daehlie's record.

In an astonishingly long career for an endurance athlete, Bjoerndalen, who also has 19 world championship titles to his name, won his first medals at the 1998 Nagano Olympics in Japan.

With a team of Bjoerndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen for the men's legs and Tora Berger and Tiril Eckhoff for the women's, Norway's victory hardly ever appeared in doubt during the mixed race in Sochi.

Bjoerndalen celebrated his historic medal with an impeccable shooting performance, missing no targets in either the prone or the standing positions.

He had begun the Sochi Games in blazing style, taking gold in the sprint event but then faded in the next three races. He had come close to winning his 13th medal in the 20km individual last week but had to settle for fourth. Bjoerndalen dropped out of contention in Tuesday's mass start when he made four mistakes in the final shooting.

He still has one more chance for another gold in the men's relay on Saturday.

The Czech Republic took a strong silver medal but were 32.6 seconds behind the Norwegians. The Italian team screamed with delight after taking a surprise bronze.