Treacy racing for better short track skating future

Niall Treacy says he will be racing for a better future for short track speed skating in Great Britain when he gets on the ice at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

The 25-year-old is Team GB’s only short track skater at Milan-Cortina, having been one of three just four years ago at the Beijing Games.

In 2018, meanwhile, GB sent a team of five to PyeongChang.

Treacy was given a huge send-off at the National Ice Centre where he trains, with more than 500 schoolchildren descending on the Nottingham venue in January to wish him well before he flew out to northern Italy.

He said the surprise reception gave him added motivation to try to “inspire” potential future skaters as he competes across 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m events.

“A medal will help raise the profile of the sport massively in the UK, which is what I really want,” he told BBC East Midlands Today.

Treacy, originally from Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire, finished 27th in the 1,000m at Beijing 2022.

But he has since gone on to claim silver in the same event at the 2024 European Short Track Championships before taking bronze in the Beijing leg of the 2024 World Tour.

He competed alongside his older brother Farrell four years ago in a short track speed skating squad that also included Kathryn Thomson.

For the Games in China, the programme had its funding slashed to nothing from the near £4.8m received from UK Sport four years earlier for the Pyeongchang Olympics when then world champion Elise Christie was considered a medal hopeful.

However, UK Sport figures show the programme did receive £700,000 in those years leading up to Beijing.

Christie, meanwhile, continued to receive UK Sport investment after 2018 through a “medal support plan”.

The latest funding allocation of just under £2m has been presented as a total for short track, figure and and long track speed skating.

Treacy, who has spent time training with the Dutch national team in preparation for this month’s Olympics, says the financial value of good results in Italy is not lost on him.

“It might mean we get more support from UK Sport, because we have effectively been self-funding, with a lot of the guys working part-time jobs,” he said.

“More support from the governing boy will hopefully bring with it more support and staff to allow a lot of the guys to focus solely on skating.”

Short track speed skating head coach Richard Shoebridge said sending Treacy off as Britain’s only Olympic entry this year was “a tough pill to swallow”.

“Our group was in a great place this year and our relay team has skated fantastically,” he said.

“We unfortunately didn’t have the luck that is required within our sport. It was just not our time this year, but very well could have been.