Britain's Christie just misses out on World short track medal

MAYBE it came a month too late but Great Britain's Elise Christie underlined her promise after just missing out on a medal at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Sofia.

IMPRESSIVE: Elise Christie, 19, finished fourth in the 1000m final at the World Short Track Championships in Bulgaria (Getty Images)

The Scottish teenager arrived at last month's Winter Olympics brimming with confidence after winning silver at the European Championships.

But the former national age group figure skating champion admitted she was overawed by the atmosphere of her debut Games, as she struggled in all three of her events.

British team performance director Stuart Horsepool has made no secret of his belief that Christie will be one to watch in the next Olympic cycle - and her 1000m fourth place in Bulgaria proves him right on the start of the long road to Sochi 2014.

China's Meng Wang added world gold to her Olympic title while Korea's Ha-Ri Cho took silver and Katherine Reutter, of the United States, claimed bronze.

Christie later finished sixth in the 3000m final, as Korea's Seung-Hi Park took gold.

Korea's Ho-Suk Lee, the Olympic silver medallist, won the men's 1000m title ahead of team-mate Yoon-Gy Kwak and American JR Celski. Great Britain's Jon Eley failed to qualify through the preliminaries.

Korea skaters also continued their form from Vancouver winning both the men's and women's relay events.