Legends' messages help Elise Christie get back up of floor

Elise Christie insists she's put aside her Olympic heartache '“ with a little help from two of her sporting heroes.
Elise Christie has put the heartache of Tuesdays 500m final behind her and has her sights set on a medal. Pic: PAElise Christie has put the heartache of Tuesdays 500m final behind her and has her sights set on a medal. Pic: PA
Elise Christie has put the heartache of Tuesdays 500m final behind her and has her sights set on a medal. Pic: PA

Christie was left in tears after crashing on the final lap of 500m short track speed skating final, meaning she finished just outside the medals in fourth.

She has since been inundated with messages of support, most notably from two of her heroes.

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Dame Kelly Holmes and Dame Jess Ennis-Hill – who both overcame injuries to strike Olympic gold – both contacted the Scot and urged her to keep the faith.

“I picked myself up the next day, I even felt better that night. I’ve had so much support from back home, which is incredible,” she said.

“I’ve heard from Jessica Ennis-Hill and Kelly Holmes and they are my two biggest heroes and it’s overwhelming they’ve messaged me. This is a total opposite feeling to Sochi and I feel ready to go again.

“I’m trying to enjoy the moment I’m in and not focus on everything that has gone wrong.”

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Christie is also playing down this weekend’s 1500m event, claiming her Games may well be judged on her final race – the cue for more crippling tension for those watching at home with everything crossed.

“I’m super focused for the 1000m, which is my last event, because that’s my favourite and best distance,” she said. “I’m just getting back on track for that and I’ll still be racing fearless.

“I know I can do well in the 1500m but it’s never a distance that I focus on. It’s about having a race and getting ready for the 1000m. However, I know I’m capable of medalling in it because I’m the world champion at 1500m too. It’s nice to finish with my best event but I’ll be looking to get that medal this weekend too.”

Meanwhile, Eve Muirhead maintained a cool head under pressure to restore some momentum to her Olympic curling campaign.

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Muirhead lost out on the final stone of her match with Nina Roth’s American rink but rebounded to beat China’s Betty Wang with the last delivery on the extra end.

Nothing beats curling at the Olympics for incremental drama and yesterday’s matches certainly gave a glimpse of what is to come, even if – in truth – they lacked top quality.

Muirhead’s rink – Vicki Adams, Lauren Gray and Anna Sloan – have lost just one of their first three games and will enjoy a rest day today to reset their focus.

“If you’d said at the start of the week I’d have won two and lost one after three games then I would have taken that,” said Muirhead.

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“It takes a bit of time to get used to the conditions and it’s tricky out there. We’ve adapted quickly and it showed during the end result.

“It came down to a last stone against the USA and we lost out – but that’s the job of a skip to nail those crucial shots.”

Muirhead’s rink plays Denmark and Korea tomorrow, the latter causing the biggest upset of the tournament so far with a win over world champions Canada played in front of a crowd that brought new meaning to the “roaring game”.

“The Korean team is really strong and we’ve not beaten them yet,” added Muirhead. “I love the atmosphere out there, sometimes you can’t hear yourselves think. I can’t wait to play Korea.”

• Watch Elise in action next on Eurosport 1 at 10am tomorrow. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www.eurosport.co.uk