Ljubljana - Snowboarder Gloria Kotnik has won the bronze medal in the Olympic parallel giant slalom, the fourth medal for Slovenia at the Beijing Olympics and the first Olympic medal for the 32-year-old.

En route to the medal on Tuesday, Kotnik defeated Japan's Tsubaki Miki in the round of 16 and kicked out another medal favourite, Germany's Caroline Langenhorst, in the quarter-final.

She lost to Austria's Daniela Ulbing in the semi-final before defeating Dutch snowboarder Michelle Dekker in the race for third place.

The Czech gold medal favourite Ester Ledecka emerged as the winner, with Ulbing settling for second place.