The 28-year-old from Wiltshire, who had won the title in St Moritz last year, could claim only the bronze this time after finishing fourth in today’s eighth and final round of the 2009-2010 World Cup, which also doubled as the 2010 European Championships.

As the third highest placed European slider, she took European Championship bronze.
 
Rudman will nevertheless take encouragement for Vancouver, where she will be trying to improve on the silver medal she won in Turin four years ago, from her season overall. 

She finishes her World Cup campaign in second place in the overall rankings, having won medals in four of the eight races.

Her second place overall was a repeat of her overall World Cup finish last season.
 
Rudman was in bronze medal position in round eight of the World Cup after the first of two runs behind Germany’s Anja Huber and Melissa Hollingsworth of Canada.

Huber’s time of 54.91sec gave her a 0.23-second margin over Rudman at the halfway mark.
 
Britain’s Amy Williams was 11th, 0.64 seconds behind Huber’s time, with Donna Creighton 15th, 0.80 seconds off the lead.
 
Germany’s Kerstin Szymkowiak produced a brillaint second run to climb from fifth to second, pushing Rudman down to fourth in, with Hollingsworth dropping down to third.
 
Huber produced the fastest runs in each of the rounds to win both the World Cup race and the European Championship crown, while Hollingsworth won the overall World Cup.
 
Williams climbed a place to 10th in today’s World Cup race for sixth in the European Championship and fifth in the World Cup for the season - equalling her overall World Cup finish in 2008-2009.
 
Creighton finished 11th in today’s World Cup race and seventh in the European Championships.

She was 16th in the overall World Cup.
 
The men go in the final round of the Skeleton World Cup tomorrow, which is also at Igls and also doubles as the European Championships, and in which Rudman's partner Kristan Bromley will be hoping to impress.
 
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is due to announce its selection of skeleton athletes to compete at Vancouver 2010 next Friday (January 29).


 Related stories
January 2010: Brilliant Rudman strikes gold in St Moritz and silver for Bromley
January 2010: The British couple hoping to put the flesh on Britain's skeleton medal hopes
January 2010: Rudman third as Vancouver Olympics get closer
December 2009: Rudman claims World Cup victory to boost Vancouver hopes