While Britain’s best hope of gold next year rests with snowboarder Katie Ormerod, few should underestimate Christie’s single-mindedness about purging her Sochi anguish. Her latest glory in triplicate, at Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena, represented a stunning breakthrough. She broke 23 years of sustained Asian dominance in her discipline, winning both the 1,000 and 1500 metres races and throwing in the overall title for good measure. To her detractors, there could have been no more emphatic riposte.
“After Sochi, I spent two years feeling terrified of failing,” Christie says. “My racing was more about trying to win medals than trying to win. This year, I just thought, ‘Well, there’s no point just thinking about medals any longer’. For me, it was about taking risks. So, while in the 1500 I got the gold, in the 500 I missed out on the bronze and ended up fourth. It has been a big shift in mindset.”