Elise Christie casts doubt over Beijing 2022 participation: "My heart is shattered"

Great Britain’s short track speed skating star Elise Christie has cast a great shadow of doubt over her selection for the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The 2017 three-time speed skating world champion - whose repeated Olympic heartbreak is well documented - hinted on her social media that she will not be making a fourth Games.

The post follows a string of disappointing runs by the 31-year-old during speed skating’s World Cup qualifying events. Beleaguered by an ankle injury, Christie failed to make it past the semi-final stages in any short-track discipline, coming in consistently behind fellow Briton Kathryn Thomson.

Selection for the Beijing Olympic team is decided upon a nomination by British Ice Skating that is then ratified by the British Olympic Association. It is expected that Britain will be allocated three places, including one female spot. Given that Thomson has consistently outperformed Christie, the veteran is the improbable pick.

“There’s a lot to say, but for now… this photo speaks what I cannot say,” the Scot wrote in a caption under a picture of her hugging Thomson in tears. “The ankle injury I sustained set me back too far. My heart is shattered.”

The 10-time European champion’s travails at the Olympics first began at Sochi 2014 where an expectant Christie was disqualified from all three of her events.

Then at PyeongChang 2018, initially Christie looked to be in scintillating form after setting a world record in the qualification round of the 500m, but she subsequently crashed out of the event's final. In the 1500m she suffered an ankle injury in the semi-final race and was later disqualified also from the 1000m.

READ MORE: Beyond the medals: Elise Christie’s testing Winter Olympic journey