Christie prepared to face her demons

In what has been a nightmare year for the short track speed skater, the 28-year-old is now back on the ice and ready to make the next three years count.

It would have felt like the whole world was watching as Christie's Olympic dreams went up in smoke when she either crashed or incurred disqualification in each of the 500m, 1000m and 1500m in February.

"I went from the peak of my career, the best I've ever been, to having a complete disaster. Everything that could have gone wrong this year, went wrong", said the 2017 ISU world short track speed skating champion.

The 28-year-old was forced to contend with a lot more than just disappointment on the ice this year, as problems in her personal life culminated in the breakdown of her three-year relationship with fellow skater Shaolin Sandor Liu.

"It took me four months after the Games to get rid of the pain I was in at the end of PyeongChang," she explained.

"At the same time, there were so many difficult things going on. My dad had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, my granddad is battling Alzheimer's, and he's in and out of consciousness, then I had some building work done at home and they ran away with my money.

"Then Shaolin and I went on holiday, got back and he broke up with me. So, for a long time, I didn't think I could come back to this lifestyle again."

Despite everything she has gone through, the track star has got herself fit again and returned to competition in November at the ISU Short Track World Cup in Calgary.

"It was actually really good to race for the first time since PyeongChang and face the mental demons," she said.

With her ankle still not perfect, Christie will be restricted by her coach as to what events she can compete in.

January's European Championships in Netherlands will no doubt be a target but for now she is just happy to be back skating, because six months ago, it didn't look like she would be.

"I feel I have got my hunger back now," she added. "But most of all it's just nice to know that I'm excited to race again. Because I didn't think that was coming back."

Sportsbeat 2018