Shelley Rudman exceeded her own wildest expectations by snatching an Olympic silver medal at Cesana Pariol less than four years after lying on a skeleton sled for the first time.

Rudman made up two places and more than a quarter of a second on her second run to claim second place and emulate the podium finish of fellow Briton Alex Coomber in the same event in 2002.

The 24-year-old from Wiltshire had watched Coomber's success on television and used it as inspiration to begin her own remarkable journey from 400 metres hurdler to Winter Olympic heroine.

Rudman said: ''I was going for top six and I knew if I had an awesome run and everything came together then I could possibly tip for bronze, but silver is beyond my wildest dreams.''

Rudman was denied gold by favourite Maya Pedersen, who slid last and confirmed her world champion status by finishing well over a second ahead of the rest of the field.

But Rudman jumped above current world number one Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards of Canada and Germany's Diana Sartor, who sat second at the end of the first run but was to finish out of the medals.

Rudman had scored two fourth places but never a podium finish in her first full World Cup season and headed for Turin as a long shot to claim a medal.

Instead most of the skeleton focus was reserved for her boyfriend Kristan Bromley, whose run in the men's competition today will now leave Rudman in a quandary.

Bromley is set to race down the same track while Rudman is two hours away in Turin receiving her silver medal and she admitted: ''My heart is going to be split in two up there on the medals podium.''

From a start position of eighth, Rudman consistently threatened the top three during her first run but a mistake on the penultimate bend left her fourth and 0.18 seconds off the bronze medal position.

It was the same bend where Rudman admitted flipping over on two previous training runs down the same track, which left her with cuts to her chin.

But Rudman coped admirably with the pressure of her second run to zoom down and maintain her position in the field with the three rivals above her still to go.

Hollingsworth-Richards briefly threatened to keep her waiting but a poor middle section of the course eroded the Canadian's advantage and guaranteed Great Britain's first medal of the Games.

Sartor then let the occasion get to her and ended up trailing in fourth, more than half a second behind the Briton.

''I am always able to peak in my second runs so I knew I would be able to relax and do better and correct the mistakes I had made in my first run,'' Rudman added.

''I knew something was going wrong on some of the bends and I was able to correct it. I spoke to my coach and Kristan and they helped and it all relaxed me.''

Rudman's remarkable triumph was toasted in the Moonraker's Arms, the pub in her home village of Pewsey which came to her aid when world-class performance funding was denied her last year.

Villagers formed the Shelley Rudman Supporters Group to help bridge the shortfall and launched a 12-hour canoe marathon, which raised £4,000 to support her bid to reach Turin.

Rudman had switched attention from athletics after suffering a back injury and first spotting Coomber at the gymnasium in Bath where she was working.

Within ten months of successfully trying the sport for the first time at the push-start facility at Bath University, Rudman was making her Europa Cup debut and beginning her Olympic odyssey.

* Rhona Martin's reputation as defending Olympic champion preceded her as she got Great Britain's curlers back on track in Pinerolo.

Martin quickly shook off Wednesday's below-par defeat to world champions Sweden to sweep her side to an emphatic 10-4 win over outsiders Russia.

Russian skip Ludmila Privivkova admitted to having felt daunted at lining up in her first Games against the Salt Lake City gold medallist.

Privivkova said: ''We knew that they won in the last Olympics and I guess this was a little psychological hint."

Martin, who had missed a number of crucial draws in the early part of the match against Sweden, this time seized control from the start and took four shots on the third end. Her team now has three wins out of four