(Photo credit: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

The United States set a national record with 12 gold medals in this month's Milan Cortina Olympics, two more than the prior Winter Olympics record set during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

The U.S. finished in second place in both gold medals (12) and total medals (33), trailing only Norway (18 golds, 41 total medals). It's the first time the U.S. has finished in sole possession in both gold and total medals since the 1952 Oslo Olympics.

The United States finished off one its record for most total medals won in a Winter Olympics (34, set in 2002).

The historic Games was achieved through a number of American droughts coming to an end.

The U.S. men's hockey team won gold for the first time since 1980, and the U.S. women's hockey team won gold for just the second time since 1998.

Jordan Stolz, the 21-year-old speed skating phenom, won gold in the 500 and 1,000-meter events in his Olympic debut. He's just the second man to win the 500 and 1,000 in the same Olympics, joining fellow American Eric Heiden.

Alysa Liu became the first American woman to medal in women's figure skating since 2006 -- and the first gold medalist since Sarah Hughes in 2002. The U.S. also narrowly won gold in the team figure skating event for the second straight Games.

Legendary U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers-Taylor became the oldest Winter Olympian to win an individual gold at 41 when she won her long-awaited first gold medal in women's monobob after previously winning five silver or bronze Olympic medals. She's tied with Bonnie Blair with the most Winter Olympic medals by a U.S. woman (six).

Host Italy finished third in both gold medals (10) and total medals (30). Germany (eight golds, 26 total medals) and Japan (five golds, 24 total medals) round out the top five of the medal table.

--Field Level Media