Elise Christie’s nightmare Winter Olympics run continued on Tuesday as the British short track speedskater suffered a distressing exit in her favoured event.
The 27-year-old Scot, carrying an ankle injury after crashing out of the 1500m semi-finals on Saturday, crashed again in her 1000m heat on Tuesday night before it was re-started.
But instead Christie, who was carried away from the track by head coach Nicky Gooch, was punished again by the officials, who gave her a yellow card for two indiscretions which amounted to her relegation.
“I think I can come back with a medal in Beijing. It wasn’t meant to be this time,” Christie told BBC Sport.
“I can promise Britain I’ll fight back from this. I have so much belief in the programme and myself. There has been such massive support.”
Charlotte Gilmartin and Kathryn Thomson also failed to advance to Thursday’s knockout rounds.
After Kyle Smith’s men’s rink secured a comprehensive 10-3 win over Norway, Eve Muirhead’s women’s squad edged to a 8-6 win over Japan. Both now have five wins from eight games.
Wins on Wednesday for the men against the United States and the women against Canada will see Britain progress to the semi-finals and avoid any play-offs.
?? @tessavirtue and @ScottMoir score a total of 206.07and become two time Olympic Champions. #gold
#️⃣ #FigureSkating #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/DbECGz7sSS
— ISU Figure Skating (@ISU_Figure) February 20, 2018
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir regained their Olympic ice dance title in their final competitive skate at the Gangneung Ice Arena.
The Canadian pair, who have been skating together since they were young children, edged out Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France by less than a point.
Maia and Alex Shibutani of the United States took the bronze medal with British pair Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland 11th.
The 22-year-old crashed in training and did not compete in Sochi four years ago as a result.
She qualified in ninth with a best of 74.00 on Monday and returned on Tuesday to post 75.40 for her first of three final runs before falling on the next two. Sharpe took gold with a best of 95.80.
Tough morning for our boys. @murraybuchan put down 2 solid runs, just missing qualification, coming 14th. @peter_speight turned it on for 2nd run and came in 15th. #AlexanderGlavatskyYeadon sent it large throughout, and finished 26th. Team GB #WeAreTheGreat pic.twitter.com/0EY4EF5pY3
— GBParkandPipe (@GBParkandPipe) February 20, 2018
Murray Buchan was 14th and Peter Speight 15th in the men’s ski halfpipe event, missing out on a place in Thursday’s 12-skier final.
Buchan scored 66.00 with his first run, Speight 64.60 with his second and Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon scored a best of 15.00 with his second run, to finish 26th of 27 competitors. Aaron Blunck of the United States was the highest qualifier with a best of 94.40.
Mica McNeill and Mica Moore were sixth at the halfway point of the women’s two-person bobsleigh.
2️⃣ fantastic runs from @MicaMcNeill and @mica_lolita ??
They finish sixth at the end of Heat two, can they break into medal contention tomorrow??#WeAreTheGreat pic.twitter.com/MXUFzFc5gW
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 20, 2018
The pair, who crowd-funded their way to the Games after being told their funding was being cut by their governing body in September, were 0.16 seconds off the medal positions.
Germany occupied two of the top-three spots, with pilot Mariama Jamanka in gold medal position, 0.46secs ahead of the Britons.
The US sled, piloted by Elana Meyers Taylor, was in silver medal position, 0.07s behind, ahead of Wednesday’s concluding two runs.
