Vanessa-Mae's Winter Olympics debut – in pictures
Vanessa-Mae, competing under her father's name of Vanakorn, made her Olympic debut in the women's giant slalom. An amazing story has seen the classical musician realise a childhood dream of competing in the event. These images tell the story of her first Olympics
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Vanessa-Mae enters the opening ceremony waving the flag of Thailand.
Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
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Vanessa-Mae, competing under the name Vanessa Vanakorn, waits as training begins on the slopes.
Photograph: MIKE SEGAR/REUTERS
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A photography crew take Mae's photograph on the slopes.
Photograph: Leonhard Foger/Reuters
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Mae awaits her turn to drop in during training. The fog led to the cancellation of the men's boarder cross and the men's mass start biathlon.
Photograph: Alessandro Trovati/AP
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A picture of concentration, Mae prepares to take her first run.
Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
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Mae carves the slopes during her first run. She finished with a time of 1:44.86, 26.98sec down on the fastest time.
Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images
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Finishing with the slowest time is unimportant, and she celebrates crossing the line after the first run.
Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
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Journalists scramble for a quote after her first run.
Photograph: Gero Breloer/AP
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Run two sees Mae improve her time by 2.75sec, making a combined time of 3:26.97, 50.10 down on gold medal winner Tina Maze.
Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
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It is not enough to see her move up from last place, but once again, it is irrelevant as a childhood dream is realised.
Photograph: Alexander Klein/AFP
