FULL OLYMPIC COVERAGE

Britain’s top medal hope Elise Christie beats her demons with brilliant start to the Games — now she must survive the...

ELISE CHRISTIE stepped on to the ice with a head full of bad history yesterday and exited a moment later with an Olympic record and a sense that a great redemption might be hers for the taking. Not a bad 42.872secs, all things considered.

Granted, it was only the heat of the short track 500m, and she must survive this demolition derby of a format three more times on Tuesday if she is to win it.

But this will more than do for now, with the first hurdle of the competition cleared and a far larger one in her mind navigated as well, for this is an athlete carrying serious baggage from Sochi 2014.

The three disqualifications she suffered in Russia have weighed heavily on the 27-year-old, and she admitted she turned up for this race not only fearing a repeat but also a crowd backlash, because it was in the 500m final four years ago that she knocked over the South Korean Park Seung-Hi, prompting hundreds of traumatising death threats. But what a way to shed the load. She led from the start and never gave it up. At one point, she even slowed down, so it was to her own surprise that she beat the Olympic record of 42.985sec, adding it to the world record of 42.335sec that she set in 2016.

Admittedly, her Olympic mark lasted a grand total of eight minutes here before it was lowered in the next heat by South Korea’s Minjeong Chong, but the point resounds that Christie, a triple world champion in 2017, is in fine form and will be Britain’s best medal hope in Pyeongchang.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever been on a start line and felt so nervous, even in finals,’ said the Scot. ‘It’s because it’s the first time the British public will have seen me mostly since Sochi. I know what happened last time and I obviously have small fears of that happening again. I think it was all just a bit related to that. You know you’re at the Olympics, you can’t avoid it — there’s rings everywhere. I’m glad the first one’s out of the way now. The anticipation was killing me. Now I feel ready to focus and actually do the skating and get the job done.

‘It was a good skate — I felt relaxed and it didn’t feel like I was at max speed so seeing 42secs I was quite shocked, to be honest. It was good.’

With Christie also contesting the 1,000m and 1500m, she is chasing a potential treble here. The bookmakers rate the 500m as her best shot, which she disputes, having said before the competition that the shorter distance is ‘too much of a lottery’ compared to the 1,000m and 1500m, in which she is the reigning world champion.

She reiterated here that the 1,000m will probably be her best chance at gold, but also set herself the target of breaking her world record in the 500m. On the basis of an improved start technique and her habit of improving with each round at a competition, it seems distinctly possible in a sport where very little can be taken for granted.

She said: ‘I am definitely in better shape than I was when I broke the world record.

‘My lap times are faster in training then they were when I got the world record — a couple of tenths faster. So I am hoping I can break my world record as long as the ice stays in good condition.’

At the very least she has given impetus to a British team that was looking horribly off colour on the first day.

‘ Racing hasn’t gone well recently because of injuries so I wanted to put a statement out there to say, “I’m back”,’ she said.

Time will tell if Christie can make the broader statement of a full Olympic redemption.

But based on the early signs you would not bet against it.

I know what happened last time and I have small fears of that happening again