However, the 21-year-old Australian missed a gate toward the end of her second run, putting her among the plentiful ranks of DNFs (did not finish) in the event to cap her final Olympic competition of 2014.

"I know that I was going for it that run and was doing all I could, but the gate was between my legs and I couldn't do much after that," Bamford told the Australian Olympic Team website.

Bamford's first run took 1:02.13 to cross the finish line, putting her in 41st place overall as 26 of the original 88 competitors failed to complete the first run or were disqualified.

Her second run went well over the first half, and Bamford was primed to rise significantly higher in the final women's slalom results, until the bottom third of the course, farther down than most DNFs occurred. There, Bamford lost a bit of balance and straddled a flex pole, disqualifying her the rest of the way and taking her out of the standings.

Bamford was in good company among the DNFs and DQs, who numbered 39 at the end of the night.

Bamford's second run began just 11 after 18-year-old American Mikaela Shiffrin completed her second run and clinched the gold medal, becoming the youngest gold medalist in Olympic slalom history and the U.S.'s first gold medalist in the event since 1972.

Bamford will rejoin Bates' alpine ski team in 2015 and 2016, but she is also already looking forward to returning to Olympic competition for 2018. "Next time I'm not going to be in the start gate kind of feeling 'Oh my God, this is the Olympics,' I'll be in the start gate like.... I can do this."

RESULTS