Chemmy Alcott's decision to go for broke paid off handsomely as she recorded Britain's best Olympic alpine result in 18 years.

The 23-year-old gambled on an aggressive approach in the women's downhill and was rewarded with an impressive 11th-place finish at Sestriere Fraiteve yesterday.

It was Britain's result on snow since Martin Bell's eighth-placed finish in Calgary in 1988, and the best by a woman since Gina Hathorn finished fourth in the Grenoble slalom of 1968.

"My coach gave me a choice to be either fast or scared. I chose to be fast, even though my skiing was a bit messy,"

said Alcott, who was 32nd four years ago in Salt Lake City.

"I'm so stoked. I just pulled that out of the bag, I did not think that was coming."

Alcott's best World Cup downhill result was 25th at Lake Louise last December, and she had barely troubled the top racers since her ninth place in Cortina D'Ampezzo in January 2004.

But she looked in top form as she attacked the notoriously difficult course despite the poor visibility in San Sicario.

"I was a bit wobbly because the course is so tough to ski," she added. "I think that kind of light helped me because I'm not a scared person so that doesn't influence the way I ski.

"I'm always on the limit. In a way it was probably better for me because I'm going to ski that way anyway. If the weather's good everyone else just goes faster."

From a start gate of 14, Alcott looked confident and composed on a course which had seen a series of high-profile crashes during training runs earlier this week.

She sailed down the course in a time of 1min.57.85sec, temporarily securing second place on the leaderboard behind Frenchwoman Marie Marchand- Arvier.

But she had to watch as she was bumped down the leaderboard, finishing 1.36secs behind winner Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria.

Alcott said she could have ended higher up the standings if her finish had gone to plan.

"I'm kind of disappointed now because I know that my splits times are all fast except at the bottom," she said.

"But when I'm on the edge, I make mistakes, so that's expected."

Alcott will now turn her attention to the super-G, which she competes in on Sunday.

"Now I am very positive for the super-G," said Alcott "I didn't expect anything in the downhill event. I expected to do better in the super-G so it takes the pressure off. I can go hell for leather in that as I've got an 11th place under my belt."

Meanwhile, Britain's men's curlers, led by skip David Murdoch, beat reigning Olympic champions Norway 6-3 in their second match of the day.

Earlier, they lost 9-5 to world champions Canada to relinquish their unbeaten record after three matches.

Britain's women lost 8-6 to world champions Sweden in their first defeat of the Games so far.

Rhona Martin's team fought back from 5-0 down to get within one point at 7-6, before the Swedes delivered a final hammer blow.

Britian's Shelley Rudman has emerged as a surprise contender for a medal in today's women's skeleton in Cesana Pariol.

Rudman performed above expectations to post the fastest time in the sixth and final training run yesterday, following encouraging earlier finishes including third and fourth.