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Milan: A frank and devastated Brendan Corey says he “messed up” his first heat of the Olympics, in which he finished fourth and was eliminated from the 1000m short track speed skate event.
While the Australian still has his pet event – the 1500m short track sprint – ahead of him, he did not conceal his intense disappointment with his race, in which he sat third until the final lap and finished fourth. The first three go through to the quarter-finals.
“Not good,” said Corey, moments after a heat in which he trailed his training partners Pietro Sighel (Italy) and Quentin Fercog (France).
“Yeah I messed it up. I needed to move up earlier, and I waited too long, in third.”
Corey’s disappointment was raw, and he felt he had let down his parents, who had travelled from Canada to watch him, the first time they had seen him live at the Olympics (he competed in Beijing in 2022).
“I’m happy they came all this way to support me. I feel like I let them down a little bit in that race.”
Australian Brendan Corey fights it out for third position.Credit: Getty Images
Corey drew a tough heat, where he had the unusual situation of racing the Italian and French opponents that he trains with on a near-daily basis in Italy.
Corey, a bronze medallist in the 2024 World Championships in Rotterdam in the 1500m, took full responsibility for a tactical blunder.
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