Ireland’s Rory Morrish has finished 88th in the men’s 15K Cross Country Skiing event at the Winter Olympics.
The 37-year-old fought bravely against experienced opposition in what is widely regarded as the toughest of cross country events.
Morrish previously represented Ireland at the 2003 World Championships in Italy, and is a brother of Fionnuala Morrish, who has represented Ireland at three athletics world cross country championships.
The title was successfully defended by Estonia’s Andrus Veerpalu, giving the small nation their third cross-country skiing gold of the Turin Games.
Lukas Bauer finished second to give the Czech Republic their first men's medal of these games in any sport while overall World Cup leader Tobias Angerer of Germany clinched the bronze.
For the first time since the Winter Olympics began in 1924, the Scandinavians failed to win a medal at the event.
Just numbered among the top 10 and the fastest of these was Sweden's Johan Olsson, coming in sixth.
Astonishingly, the best placed Norwegian was 17th. Frode Estil, a silver medal winner at Salt Lake City four years ago, had been one of the pre-race favourites.