ON her international debut, as a teenager, short-track speed skater Elise Christie fell in every race, finishing last in tears of frustration.

Yet she is now Britain's first World Cup champion and her World Championship 1000 metres bronze in Hungary this month was also a UK individual first, fuelling hopes of Britain's first Olympic title and first women's medal in the sport.

A figure skating prodigy, she won Scottish medals and landed jumps beyond any British contemporary, yet turned her back on the glitz and sequins for the bruising, brutal challenge of short track.

"As a figure skater, I bottled it at British championships," she confesses. "I'd land my first jump, double axel or something, and then bomb out because I couldn't handle the nerves. I didn't like people watching just me on the ice, and being judged. In short track, if you cross the line first, you generally win – no subjective judgment. You're in control a bit more."

She was 15 when she left her home in Livingston to live with a host family and train in Nottingham. It was a sharp learning curve.

"I was homesick at first," she recalls. "Life was difficult – I couldn't even cook. I could manage basics, like pasta, but I'm pretty good now, most of the time.

"They laughed at my accent – just banter," she says, squirming at the English twang she has acquired. "I came here so young, but it's completely unintentional, and I don't like it all."

Her mother, Angela, is the genetic source of Elise's ability – Scottish Schools 100 metres and long jump champion in her mid-teens, a contemporary and clubmate of Liz Lynch (McColgan) in Dundee.

"I wouldn't have stood in her way, because I knew how much it meant to her, but it was difficult parting with a 15-year-old daughter. The house felt empty," recalls mum. "I was giving loads of cookery instruction over the phone. She'd had a few disasters, but I gave her some hints when she came home, and she went back with a lot of recipe books."

Ironically, Elise has missed just two days' training in more than a year: "Food poisoning – something I cooked myself – dodgy meat. I was so sick, and training when you haven't eaten for two days was awful. I don't take days off for little injuries – I just get on with it."

She rises at 6.15am and trains six days a week. "Sometimes I can't sleep because I am throbbing, so tired. You struggle to stand up because your muscles ache and you're thinking: 'Can I get into skating position today?'"

Expectations were high for the reigning World Cup champion at this month's Worlds, but Christie insists that bronze in Hungary was no disaster. Indeed, she believes that she can qualify for all three Olympic disciplines (500m, 1000m, 1500m), and be a medal candidate in each.

"If things were to go perfectly, it is possible to medal in all three," she says, "but my main goal is just to skate as well as I can and give myself the best opportunity at all three distances. I'd never gone into a World Championships expecting to medal before, and found it hard to cope with. Now I've experienced it and it was good to get it out the way for the Olympics.

"I made the final at 1500m and was going to medal until I got taken out with three laps to go. I got stressed after that. If I had won a medal on the first day, I'd have gone into the 1000 more aggressively. Things didn't go the way I wanted and I'd have had to do an overtake to win, which would have risked losing any medal. I was definitely the strongest, physically, and was capable of skating away from the people in the race, but I didn't get to the front, unfortunately. If I had, I'd have won it fine.

"I got to the semis at 500m, and was in a qualifying position with a lap to go, but I'm quite inexperienced at that and couldn't make a decision at the right time. In the 1000m I did medal, so there are good hopes in all three."

Scotland's former Olympic speed skater Archie Marshall, her first coach, was tipped off by her figures mentor. "In her first international, in Amsterdam, she fell in every race but it didn't put her off," he recalls. "She just got up and went on again."

A former director of Sk8scotland and GB speed coach, he confirms British Cycling is helping the GB skating programme, but he and Elise are cautiously coy. Vicky Pendleton's husband, sprint cycling coach Scott Gardner, and his skating counterpart, Stuart Horsepool, are collaborating.

Several athletes have doubled in both sports. "They are very similar," says Elise who has ambitions in forensic medicine. "It's the same muscle groups you use but short trackers can switch more easily to cycling than vice versa because of the technique.

"I don't think I could win a gold medal in cycling or I'd probably be doing it. But I do want to try something else if I medal in skating. Cycling is an exciting sport and I don't rule out giving it a go. I'm sure there's a lot more to it than people think, but since we use the same muscle groups I wouldn't be starting from nowhere."

Christie plans to be around for at least another Olympics, but Marshall prompts an interesting thought on how the sporting landscape may change. His protege moved south to further her skating career but may be just one of several Scots with difficult decisions to make.

Marshall skated in two Olympics but did not wish to work outside Scotland: "I won't be involved next year in Sochi, but perhaps if we get an independent Scotland . . ."