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Lindsay right on track

British skater relishing start of Winter Olympics

By James Mason Last updated: 11th February 2010

Lindsay: sights set on a medal

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Short-track speed skater Sarah Lindsay is hoping for Olympic success when she arrives in Vancouver for the start of the games this week.

The Briton is due to open her campaign at the Richmond Oval in the women's 500 metres on Saturday, with the 29-year-old trying to build on European success in 2007.

Lindsay achieved a silver medal in the championships three years ago but a ruptured spinal disc soon after caused her to miss the majority of the 07/08 season.

But a now fully-fit Lindsay is back to her best and is relishing being back in Olympic action.

She said: "I will go with confidence knowing I'm one of the fastest in the world, but try not to have too much expectation because with that comes pressure."

The British skater also admits that the pressure will be firmly on the reigning champion and feels the title is Wang Meng's to lose.

Lindsay added: "The Chinese girl (Wang Meng) has been outstanding for five years now and unless she makes a mistake you would expect her to win the gold.

Pressure

"But then she has all that pressure on her and she is going in with a lot to lose.

"After that, there are 10 or 15 who are chasing. Last year at the world she was fifth fastest at the competition, including the men.

"I want a medal, that's why I'm still doing it. Last weekend I skated the fastest I have done for eight years so that shows me what I can still do. I just don't want to make any mistakes at the games."

Northampton-based Lindsay has also highlighted the importance of staying out of crashes in the race and also went on to underline the physical nature of the "non-contact" sport.

She continued: "Every two or three races there is a crash. If there is a crash and I get a medal because of it I won't feel bad because there are enough times when it's happened to me and I got knocked over and lost my medal.

"If you are the last person standing you deserve that medal as much as anybody else. I was there when Steven Bradley won his gold - that was such a dramatic incident.

"And it was a one-off but there are crashes every two or three races.

"It's supposed to be non-contact but there is a lot of professional fouling and that's just part of the game really.

"It depends on the refereeing. The emphasis is on the person overtaking to make a clean pass but if somebody hits you... you don't want to give up your place, you don't want to just let people pass you."