Winter Olympics: Elise Christie qualifies for 500m short-track quarter-finals

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XXIII Olympic Winter Games

Venue: Pyeongchang, South Korea Dates: 9-25 February

Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, Red Button, Connected TVs, BBC Sport website and mobile app. Full coverage times

British short-track speed skater Elise Christie qualified for Tuesday's 500m quarter-finals after she won her first race at the Pyeongchang Games.

The 27-year-old, who is seeking her first Olympic medal, finished in 42.872 seconds, ahead of China's Chunyu Qu.

Scotland's Christie will also compete in the 1,000m and 1500m later in the competition.

Briton Farrell Treacy fell in his 1500m heat and Kat Thomson suffered the same fate in her 500m heat.

Their team-mate Charlotte Gilmartin was involved in a three-skater collision during her 500m race. The English skater, 27, eventually crossed the line, but was later disqualified for causing the crash.

Christie proves her point

Christie is one of Britain's biggest medal hopes at these Games. After making her Olympic debut at Vancouver 2010, she was expected to win a medal at Sochi 2014, but suffered triple disqualification - in the 500m, 1,000m and 1500m.

She goes again in all three disciplines, and hopes to make amends for her disappointment of four years ago.

"I'm not going to lie, I don't think I've been as nervous as that for about six years," she told BBC Sport. "I think because everybody back home has been so excited to see me skate again, I thought, 'maybe I can't do this'. But I did.

"Racing hasn't gone well this year because of injuries so I wanted to put a statement out there to say, 'I'm back, I think I've showed them'.

"My best race is the 1,000m so I'm trying to build into that really. I'm not quite at full fitness yet. I just want to get it done and go out there and do it again. I feel quite good. It's going to be tough though. It's about getting the preparation in between done properly."

Bad day for Nicholls

British snowboarder Jamie Nicholls failed to make the slopestyle final after falling in his second run, as day one of the 23rd Winter Olympics got under way in Pyeongchang.

Nicholls, the first Team GB athlete in action, gambled on a big jump following a low score of 71.56 in his first run.

"I was gutted to see 71," he told BBC Sport. "I wasn't happy with it."

Team-mates Billy Morgan and Rowan Coultas also fell in their second runs and failed to qualify, finishing 10th and 18th respectively in heat two.

Adam Rosen, who was born in the United States, is Britain's best-placed luger after two rounds of the men's singles. He is in 23rd and team-mate Rupert Staudinger, who was a Germany junior luger, is sat in 35th place. The pair have two more runs on Sunday.

California-born Briton Annika Taylor finished last out of 60 in the women's 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon and South Shields' Amanda Lightfoot was 67th in the women's biathlon 7.5km sprint event.

Day one medal events: Five

  • Sweden's Charlotte Kalla won the first gold medal of Pyeongchang 2018 and Norway's Marit Bjorgen took silver - her 11th Winter Olympics medal - to become the most decorated female Winter Olympian of all time

  • Hosts South Korea claimed their first gold as Lim Hyo-jun clinched the men's 1500m short-track title

  • Carlijn Achtereekte led a Dutch 1-2-3 in the 3,000m speed skating

  • Germany's Laura Dahlmeier secured gold in the women's biathlon 7.5km sprint

  • And another German, Andreas Wellinger, won gold in the men's normal hill ski jump

Other news headlines on day one

  • The South Korean government has launched an investigation into a possible cyber attack during the opening ceremony. What organisers describe as non-critical parts of the internal systems went down 45 minutes before the ceremony began, affecting the phone and internet services, but it did not impact on the ceremony.

  • Cases of norovirus have risen to 139 but organisers claim the outbreak is under control.

  • Figure skater Yuna Kim, who lit the Olympic cauldron, said it was an "unforgettable experience". Speaking in Korean she revealed she had been nervous because there had only been one rehearsal and she was worried about falling over.

  • The spectacular sight of 1,218 drones forming the Olympic rings during the opening ceremony was pre-recorded.

This evening's BBC coverage

The Games Today - 19:00-20:00, BBC Two and online (19:30-20:30, BBC Two NI)

Olympics Extra - 20:00-21:00, BBC Four and online

Day two live coverage - 23:50-06:00, BBC One and online (01:20-02:00, BBC One Scotland)

Photos of the day

Image source, Getty Images
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Ecstacy for Lim Hyo-jun, who crosses the line first to win the men's 1500m short-track title and earn South Korea its first gold of the Games

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

But there was heartache for British short-track star Charlotte Gilmartin (bottom right), who was disqualified for causing a crash during her 500m heat

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Canada's Max Parrot gets a lot of air during the men's slopestyle - he scored the most points during qualifying

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Is this the cricket? No. It was cheerleaders during the unified Korean women's ice hockey team's first match of the Games - they lost 8-0 to Switzerland

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