By Anna Thompson BBC Sport at the Winter Olympics

Cruickshank defied injury to make his Olympic debut in Italy

British skier Roger Cruickshank has announced his retirement from racing to concentrate on his RAF career.

The 23-year-old, who finished 37th in both the Olympic downhill and super-G, said he was privileged to have become an Olympian after a bad knee injury.

He told BBC Sport: "I feel very satisfied and content with what I have done in my ski career and I have no regrets calling it quits.

"My knee has nine pins in it and will never be like it was before."

The Scot suffered a serious knee injury during a race crash last March and his surgeon doubted he would be able to resume his ski career.

He was determined to battle back and achieved his aim when he reached the qualifying standard for the Turin Olympics.

Cruickshank admitted he would have had second thoughts about bringing a premature end to his career if he was still challenging the top 10 in the world.

I am proud to be an Olympian and now I'm ready to move on Roger Cruickshank

But because he has to ski with a leg brace, he no longer wants to put his body through more punishment.

"What I have been through with my leg, I managed to get to the Olympics and I proved a lot of people wrong," he said.

"It's just been an amazing experience and I am proud to be an Olympian and now I'm ready to move on."

Cruickshank now heads to flying school with the RAF in April and his new ambition is to pilot a Eurofighter jet.

"I've definitely got the flying bug," Cruickshank said.

"The RAF have been so good to me in giving me a four-year sabbatical to concentrate on my ski career.