Farrell Treacy rode his luck to reach the final of the men’s 1500m short-track speed skating event at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old, who was late arriving at the Games after battling coronavirus, nudged through his quarter-final and was then advanced again after two of his rivals were penalised in their semi-final race.
Treacy’s appearance on the start-list for a potentially farcical 10-man final evoked memories of Australia’s Steven Bradbury, who swept to gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 when all four of his rivals crashed on the final bend.
But the Briton’s fortune ran out in a relatively serene and incident-free final which was won by Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea with Treacy trailing in a distant ninth place.
Nevertheless it marked an upturn in fortunes for Treacy, who admitted after his 1000m exit on Monday that he mistakenly thought the bell had sounded for the last lap.
