Britain’s Elise Christie was left devastated in the final of the 500m short track at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She went to the games as one of Britain’s great hopes of coming back with a medal and she was in contention in the final of the short track event.
Christie was well positioned in the final lap of the race, sitting in fourth place but then came what looked to be a collision with another skater Yara van Kerkhof from the Netherlands. It meant that the fall sealed Christie’s fate of finishing fifth of the five finalists.
If Christie could have held on for at least fourth she would have ended up getting a medal as one of the medalists Choi Min-Jeong, 19, of South Korea who finished second, was disqualified after the race for interfrenc. The 2014 runner-up Arianna Fontana from Italy claimed the gold in the event.
But Christie will be back on Saturday competing in the 1500m event. After the stress of that fall, in which she claims she was knocked over, that has to steel her to push even harder in this event. Christie is the current world champion at the 1500m however, she has been struggling to get things together over the season because of injury.
Just because of what happened to her, she is a decent shot at 7/1 with Paddy Power to go and get herself up on the podium as this is her distance. However, there has been little question about the powerhouses in the sport over the 1500m this season and that South Korea’s Choi Min-Jeong and Shim Suk-hee who will probably be splitting the gold and silver between them.
Women’s 1500m speed skating Winner Odds
Min Jeong Choi even money, Shim Suk-hee 15/8, Elise Christie 7/1, Kim Boutin 17/1, Arianna Fontana 11/2, Valerie Maltais 17/1, Marianne St-Gelais 25/1, 50/1 bar
Women’s 1500m speed skating Prediction
It is highly unlikely that the dominance of the South Koreans is going to be broken in this. So that realistically leaves bronze up for grabs and Christie can get there. It would be something of a consolation for her after working so hard at the 500m. It hasn’t been a great season from Christie but she is a genuine medal hope still for Team GB.
