Winter Olympics: Start problem hampers skater

New Zealand short-track speed skater Blake Skjellerup struggled to recover from a poor start, missing out on the 500m quarter-finals at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver yesterday.

Skjellerup's world ranking of 47 meant he was closest to the wall.

"Being in that position meant I was fourth out. That leaves you with one option - sitting back and waiting for things to happen," Skjellerup said afterwards.

"I wanted to be more aggressive on the first lap but it didn't happen and I couldn't make my way through. Then I started to slip further back as the race progressed. Once a gap was there it was hard to capitalise on any disruption among the other three skaters."

Despite sitting at the back of his four-man heat, Skjellerup finished third as a Chinese competitor was disqualified late in the race.

Skjellerup had the 23rd fastest time from the 32 competing, clocking 42.510 seconds. No New Zealand athletes are in action today.

- NZPA