Elise Christie hails Sky Academy support after astonishing turnaround to win gold
By Lyall Thomas
Last Updated: 16/03/17 10:32am
Elise Christie says Sky Academy's support during her astonishing turnaround to win Rotterdam gold has been "amazing".
The Scot became a triple world champion this week after victory in the 1000m, 1500m and the overall title at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in the Netherlands over the weekend.
It marked a gallant recovery for Christie, who joined the Sky Academy Sports Scholar programme after being disqualified in all of her events at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, 2014.
She told Sky News: "Part of the turnaround from Sochi to now has been this program. I became first time overall world champion and first time overall European champion after I joined.
"Knowing that a company like this backs you is incredible because they're huge - the biggest sports people going.
"[After Sochi] I wanted to hide under a stone, but I didn't know what else to do except skate. I decided that I wasn't scared of failing any more. I'd been through the worst failure - nothing could get worse - so I thought 'now I'm going to go and win'.
"I also had my mentor Will Greenwood, who had turned massive failure into massive success too. He really taught me how to turn that around. He's made a massive difference for sure. It's been amazing."
Christie, 26, says she will now prepare for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, full of confidence.
"To go into the next games being the reigning world champion is insane, because I've already been in Pyeongchang, in the stadium, and won gold medals there," he said.
"So everything's positive. Obviously I went (to Rotterdam) with the goal of winning something, but coming back with three titles was insane."
