British pair Nicola Minichiello and Jackie Davies missed out on a medal place in the women's bobsleigh final which was won by the German favourites. The British duo's times in their last two runs were the slowest of their four, leaving them in ninth place, over one second outside of the medal places.
Germany's Sandra Kiriasis and Anja Schneiderheinze won gold with a total time of three minutes 49.98 seconds.
Americans Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming were second, 0.71 seconds back.
The Italian pair of Jennifer Isacco and Gerda Weissensteiner - 50/1 long shots before the event - produced two superb drives to clinch bronze, dislodging the Germany II team of Susi Lisa Erdmann and Nicole Herschmann.
Isacco and Weissensteiner's total time of 3:51.06 was just over a second behind the German winners, but only 0.05 seconds off a silver medal.
Kiriasis said: "It's like a dream, like sitting in front of the TV when I was a child admiring these athletes who won. I think I have to sleep one more night before I realise what happened."
Although there was some snow during the runs, which produced a slower track, British driver Minichiello admitted that it had been mistakes that had slowed them down.
"On corners two and three in the third run I made tiny mistakes," she told BBC Sport. "And if you make a mistake on this track you get punished."
After the overnight optimism from their second run on Monday, the British pair were downhearted with their finish. "We didn't know where the time went. We tried our best," said Davies. "We were looking for a top six finish so this is disappointing."
Minichiello added: "I'm absolutely gutted."
The pair will not race together again as they are both drivers by choice and are each seeking new partners for next season.
Together the pair claimed a world championship silver last year as well as third place in a World Cup race in Altenberg last month.
"It is a new beginning and a new chapter for us," said Minichiello.
Canadian driver Helen Upperton was cheered on by her British parents as she finished just outside the medals in fourth with brakeman Heather Moyse. Upperton, who was born in Kuwait as her parents worked in the oil industry and travelled extensively, was only 0.04 secs off the bronze medal position
MMIX
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I'm absolutely gutted