Violinist Vanessa-Mae set to bow out of Sochi Olympics

The virtuoso violinist has sold more than 10 million records and her participation is one of the more quirky stories at the Sochi Games.

But the result couldn't dampen the spirits of the 35-year-old British citizen, who described herself as a "mad old woman" after finishing 27 seconds adrift of leader Tina Maze. Vanessa-Mae is competing for Thailand under her father's name Vanakorn, after qualifying for the event last month. She was set for a second run this afternoon.

And speaking after the first run, she said: "It's so cool. You've got the elite skiers of the world and then you've got some mad old woman like me trying to make it down. I think it's great the Olympics is here – it gives you the chance to try something new later in life. If you do everything when you're young, you leave no fun until the end. I said to myself 'if I qualify I'm going to set a goal for myself'. I made a pledge that I would make a big donation to charity because I support animal charities."

Elsewhere, it was a successful morning for Britain's men's curlers who qualified for the semi-finals with a 6-5 play-off win over Norway.