Lothians trio eye medals ahead of Winter Olympics

Elise Christie (Photo by Patrick Elmont/Getty Images)

Livingston-born short-track speed skater Elise Christie will be leading the medal charge, while Edinburgh-born athletes Vicki Adams and Murray Buchan will compete in the curling and freestyle skiing events respectively.

The Lothians competitors join 15 other Scots in the squad of 59, which is Team GB’s largest ever Winter Olympics number.

Christie, who begins competing tomorrow, will be targeting first place after winning multiple events at last year’s World Championships in Rotterdam. She will also be looking to bounce back from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where she was disqualified in three events.

Murray Buchan Photo by Patrick Elmont/Getty Images)

By contrast, Adams won bronze in 2014 as part of the five-woman Curling team. Although she is a former world champion with Scotland, she will be going for gold as part of Team GB alongside her playing partner Eve Muirhead.

Skiier Buchan will have more modest goals, having finished 17th in the qualifying round of the halfpipe event in Sochi. Having finished in the top-21 at World Cup events in recent years, he will be aiming to reach the final this time around.

Other Scots involved in the Games include Alpine skiers Alex Tilley and Charlie Guest; Andrew Musgrave and Callum Smith and Andrew Young in cross-country skiing; and Kathryn Thomson in short-track speed skating.

Team GB are aiming for their most successful Winter Olympics ever after UK Sport set a target of five medals or more from the games.

Vicki Adams (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Among those, Scottish athletes like Christie and Guest are some of the most likely to be in contention.

Sportscotland chief executive Stewart Harris said: “Well done to all our Scottish athletes and staff who have been selected for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

“The 18 Scottish athletes make up nearly a third of the biggest ever British team to compete at a Winter Olympics.

“Along with the 21 Scots on the Team GB support staff, that is something the country can be very proud of.

“Over the last four years, outstanding performances from Scottish athletes on the world stage, across a range of sports, have demonstrated that Scotland’s approach to developing a sporting pathway to performance sport is delivering.”

Meanwhile it emerged more than 100 people at the venue have been hit by Norovirus.