Farrell Treacy breaks British record in short track final

Short Track Speed Skating 09 Feb 22

Farrell Treacy smashed his personal best and set a new British record as he finished ninth in the men’s 1500m short track speed skating final.

Treacy stopped the clock at 2:11.988 and in doing so he became Team GB’s first male short track finalist since 2014 when Jack Whelbourne took seventh in the same event in Sochi.

For the first time ever there was a ten-man final with Treacy making the cut after Canada’s Charles Hamelin was disqualified for attempting to illegally overtake him in the semi.

Treacy’s impressive showing marked a spirited comeback after a disappointing opening outing at the Games where confusion led to him sprinting for the line a lap too early in the 1000m.

“Being in an Olympic final is a massive achievement, a massive achievement for my sport,” he said.

"Hopefully everyone at home who's associated with short track speed skating that's been part of my journey - coaches, athletes and things - can be quite proud of that. Hopefully I've done them justice.

“I still can't even explain what happened in that first race. I never even thought that was going to be a possibility to do that but it's nice that won't be what people remember!”

Treacy revealed he was confident he would be put through after an eventful semi-final which eventually led to there being three more skaters than usual racing for a medal.

“I saw Charles make a move up the inside and I didn't want to let him pass,” said Treacy.

“I knew somebody was coming around my outside and I blocked out the track thinking, 'he's going to pull out now, there's no way he's going to go for it', and he still went for it.

“I looked at my coach straight after and thought, 'is this an advancement?' and he nodded his head. We made eye-contact and then I knew I was in the final.”

Treacy was hoping for similar chaos in the final but a brisk pace was set by the frontrunners with South Korea’s Daeheon Hwang taking gold.

The Henley-in-Arden skater tried to mount a charge from the back but, after several races to get to this stage, did not quite have the energy left in his legs to blast himself further up the field.

“I was hoping that the race wouldn't go so fast, there would be a little bit more fighting and to be there and maybe take advantage of a couple of bumps,” explained Treacy.

"It was a 2:08, 2:09 race and you'd need a world record, it's always going to be tough to be around that, especially given two big performances.

“As it proved, it was just a bit too much for me today. I can safely say that I've made an Olympic final and I'm quite proud of that."

A fine result was just reward for Treacy after a turbulent four-year period which saw the sport's funding removed, several serious injuries and then having his place in Beijing put under threat by contracting Covid last month.

He said: “I haven't thought about it but when I really sit down and think about everything that happened in the last four years, it's been a rollercoaster - more than you can imagine.

"I can say I've made a final as well as been to the Olympics, and rubbed shoulders with the best in the world.

"There have been so many periods where I'm thinking someone up there is trying to tell me that this sport isn't for me, it's not made for me.

"I love this sport, this is what I want to do. When I'm healthy, there have been times I've put out some pretty good performances and I'm thinking I can do something.

"That keeps on driving you. To get to an Olympic final, and be a finalist, it makes it worth it, yeah."

Kathryn Thomson was unable to make it through the 1000m heats but virtually equalled her own personal best in an exceptionally fast race that saw the Olympic record fall.

She said: "I'm quite chuffed with myself. I'm happy to be here at the Olympics and to race against these girls I feel so lucky.

"With the build-up I've had, I'm quite happy to be able to equal my PB so overall, it's a positive."