American skier Julia Mancuso has said that Chemmy Alcott's return from injury is "inspiring".

The 31-year-old British alpine ski racer, who broke her legs three times during her career, finished 19th in the women's downhill event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi on Wednesday.

"She's got so much tenacity, coming back from the most incredibly traumatising injury," the News York Times quotes Mancuso as saying.

"Her fight to get back has been really inspiring. I missed her [during] those couple of years on the World Cup when she was rehabbing, and I think so did every single person on the World Cup. We all missed her energy.

"She told me her first day back she was so surprised how many people came up to her and said they were so happy she was back. But that's how people feel about Chemmy."

Tina Maze of Slovenia and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin both won the gold medal in the event.