UK Speed Skater Suffers Worst Nightmare in Final Winter Olympics Event

Prior to Elise Christie’s stint in the Winter Olympics, she was known for her records and world [...]

By Kelsey Patterson

Prior to Elise Christie's stint in the Winter Olympics, she was known for her records and world championship titles. But the speed skater from Great Britain suffered one failure after another on Olympic ice, ultimately being booted from six consecutive events.

During the opening run of her short track 1000-meter heat on Tuesday, Christie collided with another skater and fell to the ice. The 27-year-old writhed in pain as she tumbled following an ankle ligament injury she sustained during the 500 meter final.

The crash happened so early in the event, judges stopped the race and once Christie was on her feet, allowed for a restart. In the reset race, Christie got off to a slow start but managed to earn second place in the qualifying round behind Holland's Lara van Ruijven.

But before she could contend for a medal in the 1000-meter race, the referees showed her a yellow card for apparently blocking the path of Poland's Magdalena Warakomska, a move that disqualified her from the next run.

The decision looked harsh for Christie, who acknowledged that other skaters were moving aggressively during the heat, but she engaged in an illegal move of blocking a skater who was moving up the inside.

"We did everything we could to turn this around and it wasn't meant to be," she said following the event. Apparently, the 1000 meters wasn't the only thing not in the cards for Christie, who has suffered several devastating moments in the Winter Games.

Her Olympic struggle began at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where the world champion athlete was disqualified in the 500m finals, accused by South Korea of intentionally causing Park Seung-Hi to crash, disqualified out of the 1,500m, and again in the 1,000 after colliding with China's Jianrou Li in the final turn of the semifinal.

In 2018, her start looked promising as she set an Olympic record in the qualifying round of the 500-meter race and did it again in quarterfinals. But during the final round, her hand was clipped by Netherlands' Yara van Kerkhof, sending her into the walls while Kerkhof claimed a medal.

In the 1500 meter, Christie finished first in the qualifying heat, then she crashed out of the semifinal race after a collision with China's Li Jinyu, sending her smashing into the boards at full-pace. After the race, she was taken to the hospital to treat her ankle injury, which seemed to affect her during her devastating 1000-meter run.

While Christie looked to be the favorite during her final Olympic event on Tuesday, her botched ankle, injured hand and apparent Olympic-sized bad luck at the games continued with the disqualifying yellow card. With the Sochi and Pyeongchang Games combined, it makes six consecutive Olympic events that Christie has either been disqualified from or crashed out of.

But despite her poor luck on Olympic ice, the Scotland skater says she will return for redemption.

"The only thing I can say is that I will fight back for this, I'll be back for Beijing and hopefully I can do Britain proud then," she said.

Photo credit: Getty / Dean Mouhtaropoulos

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