LIVIGNO, Italy - Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo became the first athlete in Winter Olympic history to win nine gold medals, while host nation Italy witnessed another golden moment from alpine veteran Federica Brignone on a record-filled Sunday at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.

At Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, the Norwegian quartet clocked one hour, four minutes and 24.5 seconds in the men's 4x7.5km relay, finishing 22.2 seconds ahead of France, with Italy taking bronze. Klaebo skied the anchor leg to seal victory and lift his Olympic gold tally to nine, surpassing the previous record of eight shared by Norwegian greats Bjorn Daehlie, Marit Bjorgen and Ole Einar Bjorndalen.

The 29-year-old collected three golds at PyeongChang 2018 and two at Beijing 2022. After winning skiathlon and two sprint titles earlier this week, he had a four-gold campaign so far at Milan-Cortina.

"Being able to take the ninth one with the team is special and it couldn't be a better way to do that," Klaebo said, describing the relay triumph as a shared victory for the entire Norwegian squad.

On home snow in Cortina d'Ampezzo, 35-year-old Brignone claimed her second gold of the Games in the women's giant slalom with a combined time of 2:13.50, having led after the first run. Three days earlier, she had secured super-G gold, marking her first Olympic title.

Brignone's comeback carried additional significance after she had spent nearly 10 months recovering from knee surgery. As she turned toward the scoreboard in disbelief, silver medalists Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund bowed in respect from the finish area before embracing the Italian champion, prompting an eruption of cheers across the venue.

Britain's Matt Weston also completed a golden double in Cortina, teaming up with Tabitha Stoecker to win the skeleton mixed team event in a track-record time of 1:59.36, ahead of two German pairs on the podium. Weston had captured the men's individual gold earlier in the week.

ALSO READ: China's Gu, Liu secure spots in women's freeski big air final at Milan-Cortina

China reached the semifinals of the men's team pursuit speed skating for the first time since the event debuted at the Winter Olympics in 2006, as Liu Hanbin, Wu Yu and Li Wenhao clocked 3:41.66 to rank third in the quarterfinals.

"It was already a high-level performance for us in training," Wu said. Li added that the team had steadily improved over the past season and believed they can skate even faster in the next round.

In the men's snowboard slopestyle, Beijing 2022 silver medalist Su Yiming advanced to the final after finishing eighth in qualification under a two-run format. Su posted 72.78 points in his best run. If the schedule remains unchanged, the final on Feb 18 will fall on his 22nd birthday.

Meanwhile, Beijing 2022 champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong returned to Olympic competition in the pairs figure skating. The Chinese duo, who resumed competition this season in preparation for Milan-Cortina, progressed to the free skate with a sixth-place finish in the short program.

Also on Sunday, Dutch skater Femke Kok claimed her first Olympic gold in the women's 500m, setting a new Olympic record of 36.49 seconds. Her teammate Jutta Leerdam took silver, while Japan's Miho Takagi secured bronze to earn her ninth Olympic medal.

Norway added another ski jumping gold as Anna Odine Stroem secured her second title of the Games in the women's large hill event after a strong second jump. China's Zeng Ping and Liu Qi both advanced to the final round, finishing 21st and 26th respectively.

Elsewhere, Italy's Lisa Vittozzi won the women's 10km pursuit, clocking 30 minutes 11.8 seconds and securing the host nation's first-ever Olympic gold medal in biathlon. Sweden's Martin Ponsiluoma won the men's 12.5km pursuit gold medal in 31:11.19.

READ MORE: Milan-Cortina day 6: Sun earns China's first medal of short track speed skating

Britain took the mixed team snowboard cross gold, while the freestyle skiing men's dual moguls title went to Canada's Mikael Kingsbury.

After nine competition days, Norway leads the medal table with 12 golds, seven silvers and seven bronzes. Italy and the United States sit second and third, respectively.