Fancy some gold for Valentine’s?
WINTER OLYMPICS Christie and skater boyfriend have gongs in mind
ELISE CHRISTIE wants to give her boyfriend the perfect Valentine’s gift – and he’s planning on giving her one to match.
Christie and Hungarian short track speed skater Shaolin Liu are both considered top medal contenders in PyeongChang.
The Scot advanced to tomorrow’s 500m quarter-finals, setting an Olympic record in her heat, and her other half believes she’s in the form to finally crack the podium.
After finishing fifth in the men’s 1500m, Liu said: “It’s pretty hard watching Elise. 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 remember in 2016 before that season started she said we’re both going to be world champions together.
“I won my world title that year but she won three 12 months later, that annoyed her. I’ve always said the better I do, the better she does.
“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 in South Korea.
Christie clocked 42.872 seconds to break the eight-year Olympic record over the 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.
Christie said: “That was my best start in years and that is going to help my nerves.”
Meanwhile cross-country skier Andrew Musgrave was disappointed with his showing even after he achieved the UK’s best-ever result.
The 27-year-old Aberdonian finished seventh in the 30km skiathon with fellow Scot Callum Smith down in 57th.
But with Simen Hegstad Krueger leading a Norwegian clean sweep of the medals, Musgrave said: “I felt I would be in the fight for victory. It’s a decent result but I’m here to fight for a win.”