Elise Christie is “desperate” to overcome an ankle injury to make a final bid for Winter Olympics glory in Pyeongchang.

The 27-year-old will undergo a fitness test on her right ankle on Tuesday morning to determine if she can compete in the 1000m heats on Tuesday evening. The event concludes on Thursday.

Scans have determined no significant injury and she was exercising on a stationary bike on Sunday in flip flops due to the swelling on her ankle. Christie trained on the ice on Monday.

Great Britain chef de mission Mike Hay said: “She’s just desperate. This is her last of the Games, from the three events she qualified for.

“I’m cautiously optimistic. She was on the ice today, purely to see if she could put the boot on and skate around a little bit.

“She will go through a training session tomorrow. If she comes through that – and it’s still a big if – then she will compete tomorrow evening.

“Any time you’ve got an ankle injury and you’re putting that much pressure on it in a racing situation, it’s hard.

“She needs to come through a much tougher training session tomorrow and we’ll see the reaction after that.”

Hay was at pains to make it clear the final decision would be Christie’s and there would be no-one pushing her into competing as Britain chase a record fifth medal of the Games.

“The welfare of the athlete is more important than chasing any medal target,” Hay added.

“She needs to be fit or else she’s not going to be able to compete at the level that she wants to.

“I guess we need to dampen expectations a bit because she’s coming back from an injury. Whether she makes it or not is still in the balance.

Elise Christie required scans on her ankle after crashing out of the 1500m
Elise Christie required scans on her ankle after crashing out of the 1500m (Mike Egerton/PA Images)

“There’s obviously going to be an element of risk if she does make it.”

Christie crashed out of the 1500m semi-finals on Saturday evening and went to hospital where her ankle was first scanned.

The Scot was disqualified three times at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and was fourth in her opening event in Pyeongchang, the 500m, after crashing in the final.

Elise Christie has endured a second successive challenging Olympics after her triple disqualification in Sochi
Elise Christie has endured a second successive challenging Olympics after her triple disqualification in Sochi (Mike Egerton/PA Images)

Asked whether she would receive psychological as well as medical support to aid her fitness bid, Hay added: “I’m not really concerned about that.

“She is a different athlete from what she was four years ago.

“Any time you become a double world champion in between times you’ve got some resilience.”

Christie was abused online after Sochi, receiving some death threats which resulted in her temporarily quitting social media.

She last week suggested she would be quiet on social media ahead of the 1500m event, but she has been active since, reacting to many positive posts from users in the UK and elsewhere.

Yet in the world of Twitter there is plenty of discord and Christie has responded to some users questioning her ability amid the scores of supportive messages. Both positive and negative messages could be used as motivation for Christie.

Hay added: “We do have a lot of interaction with athletes long before we get to Games. What we don’t do is gag our athletes.

“We give them some of the warnings about social media and then it is up to them what they do.

“It’s up to them to handle it, they know the risks if they want to go and engage with people when they should be focusing here.

“In this world you’re going to get a few haters. Hopefully, she is not looking at the crap out there, she is looking at people who mean something to her.

“An awful lot of people have got a lot of goodwill for her. Everybody wants to see her succeed.

“You don’t become a world champion if you’re an ordinary athlete. She has got what it takes, she just needs to get it right.”