Team GB’s trio of short track speed skaters took to the ice on Day 1 of Beijing 2022, although Farrell Treacy, Niall Treacy and Kat Thomson were all unable to advance beyond their heats.
Thomson was the first Brit to compete at the Capital Indoor Stadium, in the women’s 500m, but she slipped coming out of the first corner while manoeuvring for position.
Although she got back to her feet, the Scot didn’t have enough time to catch up with the rest of the field and finished fourth in her heat to miss out on a quarter-final spot, with attention now turning to the 1000m and 1500m later on in the Games.
"I don't think I made 15 seconds before I hit the ice. That's really frustrating as I was looking forward to that race,” said Thomson, who exited at the heat stage of all three events four years ago.
"I got a really good start but then I felt hands on my legs and the next thing I was on the ground. I was hoping to build on my events through the Games but I've still got two really good opportunities to see what I can do.”
The Treacy brothers then lined up in the men’s 1000m with Niall in heat 1 and Farrell – competing at his second Games after being part of the PyeongChang team four years ago – in heat 2.
Heading into the final lap, Niall was in contention for a top-two spot that would have seen him advance to the quarter-finals but the 21-year-old Olympic debutant crashed and fell on the final lap as he tried to find a way past his opponents.
In the next heat, Farrell largely stayed out of trouble at the rear of the field but found the door repeatedly closed by the top two in the final few laps and he then slowed down a lap too soon, having mistakenly thought he’d heard the bell – ultimately crossing the line in fourth.
"I made a really big error and to do that on this stage is heart-breaking,” explained Farrell. “I thought I heard the bell, I thought it was a lap to go and I’ve gone to the line early.
"It’s never happened before so to happen at the Olympic Games is not fantastic. I don’t know if it’s a massive lapse of judgement or there was something that I heard - but even the bell came quite late. "Normally it comes as you’re coming out of the corner but that’s on me."
Farrell will compete again in the men’s 1500m but for Niall, his Olympic debut is now over and he was left with mixed emotions.
"Going onto the ice and knowing that I’d become an Olympian is a dream that I’ve always had ever since I started short track,” said Niall. “Unfortunately it wasn’t an ideal end to it.
"It was a fast race and I felt like I was in quite a nice position, sitting behind the Dutch and the Koreans. Those two nations are powerhouses in the world of short track so I feel to be able to representing Team GB just behind them and in the mix, I was happy with that.
"It was just unfortunate that the last lap mistake cost it really. You never know being in third, you can still qualify. But that’s short track."