Farrell Treacy rode his luck to reach the final of the men’s 1500m short-track speed skating event at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old, who was late arriving at the Games after battling coronavirus, nudged through his quarter-final and was then advanced again after two of his rivals were penalised in their semi-final race.

Treacy’s appearance on the start-list for a potentially farcical 10-man final evoked memories of Australia’s Steven Bradbury, who swept to gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 when all four of his rivals crashed on the final bend.

But the Briton’s fortune ran out in a relatively serene and incident-free final which was won by Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea, with Treacy trailing in a distant ninth place.

Nevertheless it marked an upturn in fortunes for Treacy, who admitted after his 1,000m exit on Monday that he mistakenly thought the bell had sounded for the last lap.

“It’s a fantastic achievement for me,” Treacy said of reaching the final. “For my country it’s been 16 years since we had a male finalist.

“GB short-track has had a torrid time in the last four years – we lost our Government funding so it’s for the guys at home, everyone at GB short-track and associated with it. I hope the kids are watching and thinking they can do it and hopefully do it better…

“(Ninth) is not what I wanted. All athletes want more – it’s natural. But I definitely feel like I did myself justice today.”