It was the second time in three years that the medal won by Steve Christoff at Lake Placid 1980 had been sold at auction.

The price paid exceeded the expectations of SCP Auctions in its "February Finest Auction" sale.

They had expected it to go for $350,000 (£290,000/€327,000).

In 2020, it sold for $319,800 (£265,550/€299,000) in a sale organised by Goldin Auctions.

Christoff's gold medal had also gone up for auction in 2017 but on that occasion failed to reach the reserve price of $250,000 (£208,000/€234,000).

Christoff has not owned the gold medal for several years and, just as the last occasion it was sold, will not benefit personally from this latest event. 

"Miracle on Ice" gold medals are increasing in value.

In 2010, Mark Wells’ medal fetched $310,700 (£258,000/€290,500) and four years later Mark Pavelich's made $262,900 (£218,300/€245,900).

The victory has entered US sports legend and Disney made a film in 2004 called Miracle, in which Christoff was played by Scott Johnson. 

The Soviet Union had won gold in five of the previous six Olympics.

A few days before the start of the Olympics in Lake Placid, they had thrashed a US team made up of college players 10-3 in an exhibition match at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

But the Americans were a team inspired at Lake Placid 1980.

After drawing with Sweden in the opening match, they won four consecutive matches before stunning the Russians 4-3.

The US then clinched the gold medal by beating Finland 4-2 in the final match.

Going into the Olympics, Christoff was viewed as one of the best players on the US team and lived up to the hype as the squad’s leading scorer during the qualifiers.

He was a massive part of the team’s victory in the gold medal game as well, scoring one goal and assisting on another.

After Lake Placid 1980, Christoff joined the National Hockey League's Minnesota North Stars.

He retired in 1984 and later became an airline pilot.