The signals from Team GB on Monday night were that Elise Christie is physically fit enough to resume battle with her Olympic curse on Tuesday. What is less clear is whether her mind is up to such a big fight.
It has so far been a tortured tale of tears, fears and a hospital visit for the Scot, who arrived at these Games as Britain’s strongest hope but has gone on to endure the trauma of crashes in each of her first two speed skating events.
The 1000m, her favourite and final distance, starts at around 10am on Tuesday, when she is drawn to go in the fifth heat. The feeling within her team is that she will race, having returned to the ice on Monday for the first time since she flew into the barriers during Saturday’s 1500m semi-finals.
Elise Christie has been tweeting progress updates on her recovery from injury
Her right ankle remains a concern after that collision, following a hospital trip and X-rays, but the broader mystery is over her mental condition, given the accumulation of suffering, from three disqualifications at Sochi 2014 to tears after both her races here.
Team bosses maintained she is stronger now than she was at Sochi, but it must be weighing heavily on the three-time world champion that her fortunes on Tuesday, and in the final on Thursday if she qualifies, could define public perception of her otherwise sterling career.
Team GB chef de mission Mike Hay said: ‘I’m cautiously optimistic (she will race). She will go through a training session on Tuesday morning and if she comes through she will compete. I’m not concerned about her mentally. This is her last chance at the Games. She is a different athlete from four years ago. She’s got one chance to go and she’s desperate. We dampen expectations a bit because she’s coming back from an injury. Obviously there’s going to be an element of risk if she does make it.’
Christie won’t make a decision until Tuesday over Winter Olympics future after her crash
Scans have shown no fracture in her right ankle after her high-speed crash on Saturday
The 27-year-old has been tweeting progress updates, though her increased use of social media has raised eyebrows, owing to the pressure it might add.
‘I would say an awful lot of people have a lot of goodwill for her,’ said Hay.
‘In this world you’re going to get a few haters, but she is not looking at the c**p out there, she is looking at people who mean something to her.’
Britain are still pursuing their fifth medal, which would be a national record, and there is optimism for the bobsleigh pair of Mica McNeill and Mica Moore, who placed joint-second and third in the final two training runs on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has launched a case against Russian curler Alexander Krushelnytsky, who won a mixed doubles bronze medal, after he tested positive for meldonium. The finding was confirmed after the testing of his B-sample in Seoul on Monday.
TV: 1,000m speed skating heats begin 10am, LIVE on BBC One.
But with soft tissue damage and swelling, she’s struggling to get fit for heats on Tuesday
Guide to the Games
