Video: Elise Christie spoke to Sports Week last month before heading to Rotterdam
Elise Christie is a triple world champion and the first British woman in history to win a world title after taking gold at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Rotterdam.
The 26-year-old, who is based in Nottingham, won gold in the 1,500m and the 1,000m and took bronze in the 3,000m clinching the overall title.
Scottish-born Christie had won eight world championships medals previously but never gold.
After the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Christie said she was considering her future in the sport after being disqualified from all three of her events.
Christie said: “I am ecstatic. The overall title wasn’t in my mind at the beginning, staying back while the European Championships was happening in January paid off, I stayed in Nottingham and trained with recently retired Richard Shoebridge.
“The semi final didn’t go the way I wanted it to, so I changed my tactic in the final and went out in front to give myself the best opportunity, and that worked out, it’s pretty amazing, especially as I haven’t raced that distance in a year.
“The support has been amazing, all the athletes came down to watch the main event today and the crowds were really supportive. The team have been working hard to get me back into top shape since having time off”.
Christie took silver at the 1,000m distance last year, the distance that clinched her title this year and said prior to the race Sunday that she was going in to win it all rather than settling for second best.
She holds the 500m world record of 42.335 but finished fourth in the event during the championship after a collision with Marianne St Gelais from Canada.
After the 500m race she said: “It was all or nothing for me in the 500m, I was determined to win rather than settle for a bronze medal and I made that choice during the race and it didn’t pay off.
As if!!! Hellllll yeahhhhh 😆😆 pic.twitter.com/GrMZMobxIF
— Elise christie (@Elise_Christie) March 11, 2017
“I lost my speed a bit after a bit of a crash with Marianne (St Gelais) and couldn’t come back from that, even though I tried my best, I think I probably would have felt the same disappointment coming third.”
Stewart Laing, performance director at GB Short Track Speed Skating said: “What Elise has achieved is extremely significant in the sport of short track for Great Britain, it follows years of dedication from Elise as an athlete, as well as the coaching and support team behind her.
“We are extremely proud of Elise and everything she has achieved this season, she has exceeded our expectations with the world record, multiple world cup medals and now the pinnacle, the World Championships.”
Christie is now building up for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
