Beijing 2022: Short track speed skater Niall Treacy inspired by success of weightlifter Emily Campbell

Niall Treacy began speed skating 13 years ago

Short track speed skater Niall Treacy will use the success of weightlifter Emily Campbell as inspiration in his first Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Campbell became the first female lifter to win a medal for Team GB when she took silver at the Tokyo Games.

Both she and 21-year-old Treacy train at the University of Nottingham gym.

"She's just a phenomenal athlete, the amount of weight she can lift - there's no way I could lift a fraction of that," he told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"You kind of hide away when she's out lifting. I haven't spoken to her personally but just being in that environment can only help."

Treacy, who will compete in the 1,000m event, his 26-year-old brother Farrell and Kathryn Thomson make up the GB short track squad for next February's Games in Beijing.

He clinched a place by recently finishing fourth at a World Cup event in Hungary.

Nicky Gooch is the only British athlete to win a Winter Olympics medal in short track speed skating, taking bronze in the 500m event at Lillehammer in 1994.

"Because it's my first Olympics, it's mainly to get the experience, go out there and see what it's like racing against the best in the world on such a big stage, take as much as I can from the first day I arrive to the last day I leave and use that going forwards," said Treacy.

"Obviously I'm going to try my hardest, get as high as I can, keep pushing for the top places, but use it building forwards.

"Because of Covid we've missed two years of real competition and I've only had two years to build into this, so I'll just use it as experience moving into the next cycle and the next Olympics."