NIALL Treacy made a disastrous start to his Winter Olympics medal bid after crashing out in the 1,000m short track speed skating heats.
The Henley-in-Arden athlete took to the ice for the first time at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games in the 1,000m event at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
However, Great Britain star Treacy collided with Canada’s Steven Dubois when leading the race with five laps to go which led to a video review.
Dubois attempted to overtake Treacy on the inside while the latter defended his position which ultimately led to a collision between the pair.
Neither athlete received a penalty with both speed skaters taking shared responsibility for the incident.
Treacy could not recover from the crash as he crossed the line in fourth place in a time of 1 minute 54.04 seconds.
Treacy told BBC Sport: “It was a bit frustrating obviously, but I felt I was in a good position.
“I felt physically strong, holding my line and I heard an athlete come [alongside me] I didn’t know who it was.
“I felt it was a little bit late and tight and I wanted to defend my position. It’s the Olympic Games, you can’t be pushed around.
“It’s unfortunate that the referee called joint responsibility because it’s not even like it was my fault, it was his fault so, frustrating but I’ll dust myself off and come back.
“It’s a bit difficult because in the moment, I’m defending my line and then afterwards it’s a tight call and you don’t know if you’re in the wrong or if he’s in the wrong.
“It’s like get up, finish the race and see what the referee has to say.”
Japan’s Yoshinaga Kazuki won the heat in a time of 1 min 24.94 secs with USA’s Clayton DeClemente second in 1 min 26.19 secs.
The two fastest athletes in each heats qualify for the quarter-finals along with the four fastest third-placed skaters.
Treacy recorded the slowest time of all the athletes in the heats.
He will compete in the 500m and 1,500m disciplines later in the Games.
