SOCHI, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen cemented his status as the best biathlete the world has ever seen after winning the men's 10km sprint, his 12th Olympic medal, while his compatriot Marit Bjoergen took her fourth Olympic title from the women's skiathlon at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games on Saturday.
Bjoerndalen's win, his 7th Olympic gold, means he now shares the title of greatest winter Olympian, tied with retired cross-country skier Bjoern Daehlie, also of Norway, for most winter medals ever won.
"It was important for me," Bjoerndalen said after the race. "I think I'm in the best shape this year for me. It was the goal for me to be prepared for the race, this championship. My shooting was almost perfect and the skiing was fantastic."
Dominik Landertinger of Austria, who won a silver medal in the men's 4.7km relay at Vancouver, finished second for his first Olympic medal in an individual distance. Jaroslav Soukup of the Czech Republic took the bronze.
Bjoergen, 33, also became one of the greatest cross-country skiers in history. She pulled away from Sweden's Charlotte Kalla on the final straight to win in 38 minutes, 33.6 seconds.
Kalla took the silver in 38:35.4 and another Norwegian Heidi Weng won the bronze in 38:46.8.
Bjoergen, who won three golds at the Vancouver Games in 2010, is the oldest individual female winter Olympic gold medalist in this sport.
"One gold was my goal, so now I can relax a little bit. I can enjoy the rest of the Games," she said.
The Netherlands won a full set of medals in the men's 5,000m speed skating, with Sven Kramer retaining the title in an Olympic record.
Kramer, 27, eased to the victory in six minutes and 10.76 seconds, beating his own record of 6:14.60 set in Vancouver four years ago.
Jan Blokhuijsen came second in 6:15.71 and Jorrit Bergsma took bronze in 6:16.66.
The clean sweep confirmed the Netherlands' dominance in the men's 5,000m. The Dutch have been on the podium in the last seven Olympic Winter Games (10 medals in total) in the event since failing to earn a medal in 1984.
The first gold of the Sochi Olympics went to Sage Kotsenburg of the United States, who won the men's snowboard slopestyle title with 93.50 points.
Staale Sandbech of Norway took the silver with 91.75 points and X Games champion Mark McMorris from Canada bagged the bronze at 88.75.
The 20-year-old had to compete in the morning's semifinal in order to qualify for the final, but he threw down an amazing first run in the final round with 93.50, the best score of the final.
"I'm really excited," said Kotsenburg. "It feels awesome. I don't know what to call it. I have no idea what's actually going on. This is the craziest thing that ever happened."
The slopestyle, as an Olympic Winter Games event for the first time, was missing top athlete Shaun White, who pulled out early this week to focus on winning a third consecutive gold medal in the halfpipe competition.
Justine Dufour-Lapointe and her sister Chloe finished 1-2 for Canada in the women's moguls, beating defending champion Hannah Kearney of the United States to the third place.
Justine, 19, scored 22.44 points to win Canada's first gold in Sochi while her 22-year-old sister took the silver with 0.78 points behind.
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