Twickenham's alpine ski star Chemmy Alcott was delighted with her top-20 finish in a historic women's downhill at the Winter Olympics this morning.

The 31-year-old former Surbiton High School student clocked one minute 43.43 seconds to finish 19th at the Rosa Khutor alpine centre in Sochi -  only 1.86 seconds adrift of joint gold medal winners Slovenia Tina Maze and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin.

Alcott, whose best Olympic downhill finish is 11th at the Turin Games in 2006, has been plagued by injury since suffering a double leg break in 2010 and had only completed two downhill races prior to the Games since breaking her leg again six months ago. 

"You get two minutes to show everyone what you have done for the last four years," said Alcott, who is in Super-G action on Saturday.

"A top-20 after what I've been through is amazing justice.

"It was not pretty, but to finish less than two seconds out in an Olympic downhill - I'm swelling with pride."

Maze claimed her country's first ever Winter Games gold when she matched Gisin's time as the pair made history on Wednesday.

It is the first time an Olympic skiing gold has been shared, while Switzerland's Lara Gut won the bronze.