The path to the podium has never been easy for British speed skater Elise Christie... despite being a 10 times European gold medalist and the first European woman to win an overall world championship title, her failure to bring back medals from three Olympics has overshadowed what has so far been a highly successful career in the sport.

But all eyes will be on her again in Bulgaria in March when the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships take place in Sofia.

In her second Olympics in Sochi in 2014, controversy followed Christie wherever she went with disqualifications ending her bid for medals. And four years later in Pyeongchang, South Korea, injury and further disqualifications again scuppered her Olympic dreams.

Following her Pyeongchang disappointments Christie was off the ice until October last year while her body recovered from the wear and tear of competing at the highest level but she returned to individual competition for the first time earlier this month, surprising herself by picking up two medals at the ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Dordrecht, Netherlands, with silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 1000m.

Christie was delighted with her result saying, “I didn't expect to win any medals this weekend. To pull out a second place in the 1500m is incredible.”

Home favourite Suzanne Schulting won the 1500m title, and also went on to win the overall title, with Russia's Sofia Prosvirnova winning bronze. Prosvirnova bounced back with a gold in the 1000m, with Tifany Huot Marchard of France winning the silver medal.

“Suzanne is the strongest here by quite a bit, we can all see that," said Christie. "When she came past I thought I could fight with her but then I knew I might end up off the podium, so I let her go and thought I would try and stick to her as much as possible. It was the best tactic, and actually I think it was the best 1500m I have ever raced.”

It's surprising that Christie would say that, given that at her last world championships in 2017 she won gold in the 1500m and went on to become the first non-Asian skater to win the women's overall world title, after also collecting gold in the 1000m, bronze in the 3000m and finishing fourth in the 500m.

A lightning-fast, adrenaline-fuelled event full of unpredictability, short track speed skating is a highly tactical and physically demanding sport where split-second decisions and race strategy play a crucial part in deciding where the medals go, with skaters reaching speeds of up to 50km/h on blades 46cm-long and only 1mm-thick.

The elite GB short-track squad are based at the National Performance Centre for Short Track Speed Skating, located at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham, where they will be hard at work for the next month preparing for the world championships in Sofia from 8-10 March.

Kathryn Thomson, Jack Burrows, Jonathan Moody, Billy Simms, Farrell Treacy and Niall Treacy were also representing Great Britain in Dordrecht, with Thomson and Farrell Treacy, who both made their Olympic debuts in 2018, reaching the 1500m semi-finals. Thomson also raced in the 1000m quarter-finals.

This weekend the GB team will be in Dresden, Germany, for the fourth and penultimate leg of the ISU Speed Skating World Cup, which will provide Christie's first event back up against the world's elite.

Following their strong European championships, Prosvirnova and Christie will be confident of being in the mix for medals in Dresden but they will have to go some way to break up the battle between South Korea’s Choi Min-jeong and Dutch star Schulting over 1500m, with Choi the Olympic champion over the distance and the winner of the World Cup events in Almaty and Salt Lake City this season, while Schulting is the woman in form having taken World Cup gold in Calgary in November as well as the 1500m European title earlier this month.

This weekend’s racing will feature 500m and 1500m races, plus two 1000m races, for both genders. There will also be a 3000m women's relay and a 5000m men’s relay, as well as a 2000m mixed gender relay. The season’s World Cup action concludes with the final leg in Turin from 8-10 February.

For more information about the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships visit the website. Find out more about the British team and speed skating in the UK on the British Ice Skating website.