Winter Olympics: Elise Christie qualifies for 500m short-track quarter-finals

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XXIII Olympic Winter Games
Venue: Pyeongchang, South Korea Dates: 9-25 February
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, Red Button, Connected TVs, BBC Sport website and mobile app. Full coverage times

British short-track speed skater Elise Christie qualified for Tuesday's 500m quarter-finals after she won her first race at the Pyeongchang Games.

The 27-year-old, who is seeking her first Olympic medal, finished in 42.872 seconds, ahead of China's Chunyu Qu.

Scotland's Christie will also compete in the 1,000m and 1500m later in the competition.

Briton Farrell Treacy fell in his 1500m heat and Kathryn Thomson suffered the same fate in her 500m heat.

Their team-mate Charlotte Gilmartin was involved in a three-skater collision during her 500m race. The English skater, 27, eventually crossed the line, but was later disqualified for causing the crash.

Christie proves her point

Christie is one of Britain's biggest medal hopes at these Games. After making her Olympic debut at Vancouver 2010, she was expected to win a medal at Sochi 2014, but suffered triple disqualification – in the 500m, 1,000m and 1500m.

She goes again in all three disciplines, and hopes to make amends for her disappointment of four years ago.

"I'm not going to lie, I don't think I've been as nervous as that for about six years," she told BBC Sport. "I think because everybody back home has been so excited to see me skate again, I thought, 'maybe I can't do this.' But I did.

"Racing hasn't gone well this year because of injuries so I wanted to put a statement out there to say, 'I'm back, I think I've showed them'.

"My best race is the 1,000m so I'm trying to build into that really. I'm not quite at full fitness yet. I just want to get it done and go out there and do it again. I feel quite good. It's going to be tough though. It's about getting the preparation in between done properly."

Bad day for Nicholls

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British snowboarder Jamie Nicholls failed to make the slopestyle final after falling in his second run, as day one of the 23rd Winter Olympics got under way in Pyeongchang.

Nicholls, the first Team GB athlete in action, gambled on a big jump following a low score of 71.56 in his first run.

"I was gutted to see 71," he told BBC Sport. "I wasn't happy with it."

Team-mates Billy Morgan and Rowan Coultas also fell in their second runs and failed to qualify, finishing 10th and 18th respectively in heat two.

California-born Briton Annika Taylor finished last out of 60 in the women's 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon and South Shields' Amanda Lightfoot was 67th in the women's biathlon 7.5km sprint event.

Day one medal events: Five

Sweden's Charlotte Kalla wins the first gold medal of Pyeongchang 2018 and Norway's Marit Bjorgen took silver – her 11th Winter Olympics medal – to become the most decorated female Winter Olympian of all time.

Hosts South Korea win their first gold as Lim Hyo-jun clinches the men's 1500m short-track title
Carlijn Achtereekte leads a Dutch 1-2-3 in the 3,000m speed skating

Germany's Laura Dahlmeier takes gold in the women's biathlon 7.5km sprint
12:35-14:20: Ski jumping – men's normal hill individual final

Other news headlines on day one

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The South Korean government has launched an investigation into a possible cyber attack during the opening ceremony. What organisers describe as non-critical parts of the internal systems went down 45 minutes before the ceremony began, affecting the phone and internet services, but it did not impact on the ceremony.
Cases of norovirus have risen to 139 but organisers claim the outbreak is under control.
Figure skater Yuna Kim, who lit the Olympic cauldron, said it was an "unforgettable experience". Speaking in Korean she revealed she had been nervous because there had only been one rehearsal and she was worried about falling over.

Brit-watch – still to come

10:10-13:20: British sliders will return to an Olympic luge track for the first time since Vancouver 2010 with Adam 'AJ' Rosen and Rupert Staudinger competing in the opening runs.