Canadians Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse won their second straight gold medal in women's bobsled, rallying in the final two heats to beat the American duo of Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams in USA-1 by 0.10 seconds. Humphries and Moyse finished a full second ahead of Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans in USA-2, the bronze winners.
This marked the first time two U.S. women's bobsleds medaled at the Olympics. There was even more history for the Americans to savor. Meyers became the first American woman with two bobsled medals.
And Williams - whose entire bobsled career spans about six months - is now the fifth Olympian to medal in different events at the Summer and Winter Games. She has a gold medal from the 4x100-meter relay in the London Olympics in 2012, as well as a silver from the 100 meters at the Athens Games eight years earlier.
The latest victories boosted USA to the top spot in the medals race with 23, leaving Russia and the Netherlands next in line with 22 apiece. Norway trailed not too far behind with 20.
See which countries rank with the Olympic medal tracker on ESPN.com
Earlier in the day, Ted Ligety took gold for Team USA, dominating the giant slalom event at the 2014 Sochi Games. Leading after the first run, Ligety sped down the Rosa Khutor course in a two-leg combined time of 2 minutes, 45.29 seconds.
Ligety is the first American man to win two Olympic gold medals in Alpine skiing. He shared the podium with two French athletes, Steve Missillier and Alexis Pinturault for silver and bronze, respectively.
Ligety's first gold came in combined at the 2006 Turin Games as a 21-year-old - before he had ever won a World Cup race.
The only other American to win two Olympic golds in Alpine skiing was Andrea Mead Lawrence, who took both the women's slalom and giant slalom at the 1952 Oslo Games.
Four other American men - Bode Miller, Phil Mahre, Tommy Moe and Bill Johnson - have won one Olympic gold.
Check out photos of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics competitions
Also on Day 13 of the Sochi Olympics, Finland eliminated Russia from the Olympic men's hockey tournament with a 3-1 victory, putting a stunning end to the Russians' enormous expectations at home; Norway won the first Olympic mixed relay in biathlon, making Ole Einar Bjoerndalen the most decorated Winter Olympian ever with 13 medals; Norway also won the women's cross-country team sprint, with Finland taking the men's title; and Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic denied the Netherlands another speedskating podium sweep.A look at Wednesday's events:
ICE HOCKEY - QUARTERFINALS: Finland's win over Russia was not an upset. The Finns had advanced to the semifinals as the fourth seed, while Russia had to win a consolation round game to advance to the final eight. Sweden continued its undefeated run, beating Slovenia 5-0 to advance to the semifinals. Defending Olympic champion Canada had a scare from upstart Latvia before a late goal sealed a 2-1 win. The U.S. advanced easily with a 5-2 win over the Czech Republic. The U.S. will meet Canada and Sweden will take on Finland in Friday's semifinals.
FIGURE SKATING:Defending gold medalist Yuna Kim of South Korea scored 74.92 points in the women's short program, ahead of Adelina Sotnikova of Russia by 0.28. Carolina Kostner of Italy is third with 74.12. Fifteen-year-old Julia Lipnitskaia, who helped Russia win the team gold on Feb. 9, fell on a triple flip and finished fifth. She was too tearful to speak after her worst performance in months. American champion Gracie Gold was fourth.
ALPINE SKIING: Team USA's Ted Ligety took gold, and France's Steve Missillier and Alexis Pinturault took silver and bronze, respectively.
CROSS-COUNTRY: Marit Bjoergen captured her fifth career Olympic gold medal when Norway won the women's team sprint. Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg was the other Norwegian skier. Finland took silver and Sweden bronze. In the men's race, Finland took advantage of a fall that slowed its two closest rivals. Russia grabbed the silver, Sweden the bronze.
SNOWBOARDING: American-turned Russian snowboarder Vic Wild won the men's parallel giant slalom, minutes after his Russian wife, Alexa Zavarzina, won bronze in the women's competition. Wild grew up in White Salmon, Wash., and applied for Russian citizenship after marrying Zavarzina in 2011. He then joined the Russian snowboarding team. Nevin Galmarini of Switzerland finished second for silver, and Zan Kosir of Slovenia took the bronze. In the women's race, Patrizia Kummer cruised to victory - and Switzerland's sixth gold medal of the games - when Japan's Tomoka Takeuchi missed a gate midway through the second run of the finals.
BIATHLON: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen broke the record for overall medals that he had shared with cross-country skiing great Bjoern Daehlie. He also matched his fellow Norwegian's record of eight gold medals. Bjoerndalen earlier won gold in Sochi in the men's sprint biathlon. He can win another medal in the final men's biathlon event of the Sochi Games, the 4x7.5-kilometer relay on Saturday. In the mixed relay biathlon, the Czech Republic won the silver and Italy the bronze.
BOBSLED: The Canadian team of Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse won their second straight Olympic women's bobsled gold. Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams of the U.S. took silver, and teammates Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans the bronze. Williams became the fifth Olympian to medal at both the Summer and Winter Games. She has gold and silver medals from three Olympic appearances as a sprinter.
SPEEDSKATING: Martina Sablikova won her second consecutive gold in the women's 5,000 meters. The Dutch still added two more medals, with Ireen Wust winning silver and Carien Kleibeuker the bronze. Wust now has won four medals at the Sochi Games, including gold in the 3,000 and silvers in the 1,000 and 1,500. Dutch speedskaters have 21 medals overall.
CURLING: Canada and Sweden will play for the gold medal in women's curling after winning semifinal games that went to the final shot. In the men's tournament, Canada will meet Britain for gold.
Check out the competition schedule for the Sochi Olympics on ESPN.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
