Vanessa Mae finishes last in giant slalom at Winter Olympics

18 February 2014, 10:52 | Updated: 19 March 2014, 17:57

Violinist Vanessa Mae has finished in last in the women's giant slalom final in the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Competing for the Thailand Olympic team, Mae finished the course in 1 minute and 44.86 seconds, almost 27 seconds behind gold medal winner Tina Maze of Slovenia.

Taking part under the name Vanessa Vanakorn, Mae was the last competitor to complete the course. The field was split into two groups based on their performance, with the top 30 competing directly for the medals and the remaining 44 following them.

Despite coming in last place (though still ahead of those that crashed out of the event), Mae said that the experience was "great… 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."

She continued: "My main focus for being here was to really have a good time, to improve my speed in a very, very short amount of time and to help some animals out here."

Though she is a British national, Mae was competing for the Thai team through her Thai heritage on her father's side.