Bell on slippery slope as mountain turns nasty

Irish alpine skier Florence Bell suffered a disappointing Winter Olympics debut in Sochi, failing to complete her first run of the women’s giant slalom event.

In severe conditions, the 17-year-old’s inexperience counted against her on the unforgiving slopes of Rosa Khutor.

An incorrect line approaching gate 12 ensured she subsequently missed the next one and her race was over. Her day was too — the ‘DNF’ beside her name meant no second run.

The teenager wasn’t the only one who struggled, though. From a field of 89 competitors, 15 others failed to finish including American Julia Mancuso, who won a bronze medal in the super combined slalom.

The heavy rainfall certainly did Bell few favours even though she was expecting difficult terrain owing to her low bib number and subsequent late start.

A blistering first run from Slovenia’s Tina Maze secured her the gold in a combined time of 2.36.86, seven-hundredths of a second ahead of Austria’s Anna Fenninger. Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg won bronze.

Arguably the biggest cheer of the competition was reserved for classical violinist Vanessa-Mae (competing as Vanessa Vanakorn).

Representing Thailand and having scraped through Olympic qualification, she, unsurprisingly, finished in last — over 50 seconds behind Maze.

Bell, the Birmingham native who qualifies for Ireland through her Lurgan-born father, is back in action on Friday in the slalom.

Elsewhere, Irish flag-bearer Conor Lyne has shaken off a shoulder injury to compete in the men’s giant slalom this morning.