Treacy bid for medal falls short

Niall Treacy and China's Liu Shaoang fall in the 1,500m final

- By JAMES TONEY

NIALL Treacy dramatically made his first Olympic final - and was left with nothing but pride despite an early ending.

Four years after his brother Farrell reached the same final in Beijing, Treacy got his tactics spot on, dominating from the front to progress through high-quality races in the quarter and semifinals.

Ranked 22nd in the world and a narrow fourth at the recent European Championships, the Solihullbased skater considered the 1,000 metres his better chance but he crashed during the heats after tangling with Canadian Steven Dubois, a four-time world champion.

There aren’t many sports as dramatic and chaotic as short track as skaters battle for every inch of ice around 110-metre laps at speeds of up to 40mph.