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Elise Christie hopeful of competing in 1000m short-track despite injury

Elise Christie
Christie crashed in the women’s 1500m short track speed skating semi-final. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Elise Christie will decide at the last minute whether to risk racing in Tuesday’s 1000m heats after sustaining soft tissue damage in her right ankle in a dramatic crash that led to her being stretchered off the track.

A subsequent hospital scan showed that there were no broken bones, and British Olympic chiefs also insist that the 27-year-old has no mental scars despite her second high-speed smash of these Winter Olympics.

Britain’s chef de mission Mike Hay told reporters: “She wants to make it but it might not be her decision at the end of the day – you’ve got to be able to get the skate on your foot. We’ll have to wait and see what the doctors say and take it from there.

“It’s a bit of a fight against time whether she can make it or not. But nothing is broken. She has got soft tissue damage to her right ankle and we won’t be making a decision until Tuesday morning whether she can skate or not. There must be some chance or they wouldn’t be saying we can wait. We’ll just have to sit tight for a bit.”