Elise Christie has warned that she is only going to get better this winter after a superb performance saw her take World Cup gold in Seoul.
The triple world champion only returned to the ice pain-free seven days ago, but proved that was no problem as she skated her way to short track 500m gold.
The Brit dominated the A final to fend off silver medallist Choi Min Jeong of South Korea, while Italy’s Martina Valcepina skated to bronze.
That was despite Christie feeling at just half her potential fitness, threatening even more to come as the countdown to the Olympic Winter Games ramps up.
“It’s nice to know when I’m not at my best I can still win, especially in the 500m because it’s my favourite,” she said.
“It was a really nice boost after everything I’ve had to fight with this season.
“I feel like I’m only 50 per cent right now and I won and I have two, three months to turn that around now.
“I’m not injured now so all I have to do is go home and train hard, get my fitness back. If I can do this now then what can I do when I’m at my full fitness?”
The past few weeks have been a tester on and off the ice for Christie, going eight weeks without properly training.
But in this, the fourth and final World Cup of the season, Christie pulled out all the stops to record the emotional win in front of boyfriend and fellow short track star Liu Shaolin.
Also competing in the 1,000m, another medal could come the way of the 27-year-old before the weekend is out, in the same country where the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games will be held.
“He (Liu) told me to stop rushing so much. He’s always finding something to tell me off,” she said.
“He knows everything I’ve been through and he knew how much today meant to me so it’s nice to share that with him and my coach.”
Sportsbeat 2017