British short track speed skater Elise Christie has revealed she felt “broken” during her battle with anxiety and depression.

The Scottish three-time world champion suffered high-profile short track failures at the 2018 Winter Olympics and subsequently split up with her boyfriend, Hungarian skater Shaolin Sandor Liu.

Following the Sochi Games in 2014, Christie received death threats and abuse online, resulting in the onset of anxiety and later depression.

“It was quite debilitating. I was in bed a lot. I was struggling to keep up with normal life. I couldn’t get things done,” she told BBC Sport.

“I hit a massive low when I got injured in the last Olympic season and I just ended up broken.”

Christie said her recovery was aided by taking antidepressants, which she has now stopped.

The 28-year-old also says she is no longer scared and is “excited” about skating and life, and hopes that by opening up about her mental health issues she can help others.

“People are scared to say they’re on medication. I don’t know why but I was the same,” Christie said.

“But people are on them because they need it. I couldn’t function without them at that point.

“It’s fine to be on the medication. I felt at times I was never going to get off them or feel better.

“But I just knew when I was ready to come off the medication, because I was ready to accept the emotions and accept that I was going to feel up and down at points.”

She added: “I want to show people it’s OK to feel that way and that it’s OK to use medication.

“Some people feel weak to admit it. But depression is an illness, not just sadness, and I want people to think it is OK to speak about it.

“I’m going to feel sad emotions but I told myself I was going to try to focus on the good emotions. And now here I am.

“I’m excited about skating; I’m excited about life. I’m not scared any more.”