Roses are red, Christie’s in blue, she wants to win gold for her boyfriend, Liu

BRIT ELISE AND HER SPEEDSKATER SWEETHEART WANT THE SAME VALENTINE’S GIFT

ELISE CHRISTIE wants to give her boyfriend the perfect Valentine’s gift – and he’s out to return the compliment.

Christie and Hungarian short track speed skater Shaolin Liu are both considered top medal contenders in PyeongChang.

The Briton (above, in action yesterday) advanced to tomorrow’s 500m quarter-finals, setting an Olympic record in her heat, and her other half (above) believes she’s in the form to finally crack the podium.

“It’s pretty hard watching Elise,” he said, after finishing fifth in the men’s 1500m. “I was in the stands shouting. I know she couldn’t hear anything but I couldn’t stop myself. She’s giving me a lot of power when she’s doing good so I’m cheering for her.

“I know she was nervous but she’s getting better, I’m teaching her. It’s a really good thing to be in the same sport and giving advice to each other.

“I remember in 2016 before that season started she said we’re going to both be world champions together. I won my world title that year but she won three 12 months later, that really annoyed her. I’ve always said the better I do, the better she does.

“We’re trying to help each other and handle the pressure together. We’re seeing each other when we can in the village but we’re both focused on what we have to do. We can celebrate Valentine’s Day when we have finished, hopefully both with Olympic gold medals.”

Christie admitted to a bad case of nerves before she took to the start line in the first of her three events here in South Korea. Not known for her super-fast start, Christie is still the world record holder over 500m and clocked 42.872 seconds to break the eight-year Olympic record this weekend.

And that set up a showdown with Korea’s Minjeong Choi with three tension packed races standing between the Scot and her Olympic ambition.

“You can train, train and train but it’s only when you are out there racing that you actually know how good you are feeling,” said Christie. “That was my best start in years and that is really going to help my nerves.

‘‘If I can get a start in the next round it will really help my confidence. Obviously it’s all about the gold but if I can beat the world record too, that would be awesome.”

Watch Elise Christie go for gold tomorrow on Eurosport 1 at 11am. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www.Eurosport.co.uk