Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland, has led the tributes to Team GB’s Zoe Gillings, from Otley, who on Sunday narrowly missed out on a place in the women’s snowboard cross finals at the Winter Olympics.

Gillings came fourth in a nail-biting semi-final in Sochi, Russia, where she was overtaken right at the very end by Italy’s Michela Moili in a photo finish.

In her post-race interview, Gillings said it was a shame to have so narrowly missed out.

Zoe said: “I thought I’d actually got through at one point because one of the officials said that I was through. But then it turned out I wasn’t, which was a real shame to miss out on the final by that small amount, but I rode as hard as I could, as fast as I could, so that’s all I can really do.”

Mr Mulholland said: “It would have been fantastic to see one of Otley’s own go all the way and win a medal, but sadly it wasn’t to be!

“It’s tough enough going through months and years of training. To then be selected for Team GB’s Winter Olympics squad and make it all the way to the semi-finals is an absolutely fantastic achievement. Zoe has done Leeds proud.”