SHORT TRACK: The Sochi 2014 Short Track Speed Skating competition is well under way with an extraordinary Bradbury-esque finish in the women’s 500m, and a victory to Canadian Charles Hamelin in the men’s 1500m.

Australia’s Deanna Lockett is now just one sleep away from making her Olympic debut, with the women’s 1500m kicking off at the Iceberg Skating Palace on Day 8, Saturday 15 February.

Lockett, 18, is one of the youngest in the field which includes high calibre athletes such as defending Olympic Champion Zhou Yang of China and World Cup leader Shim Suk Hee of Korea.

Despite her young age, Lockett has had some big results in the 1500m at the international level including bronze at last year’s Junior World Championships.

Head coach Ann Zhang, said she is happy with how Lockett has settled in to training in Sochi and she is ready for competition.

“Deanna likes a program all set out so she struggled when we first arrived as training times were different and the groups we trained with kept changing,” Zhang said. “But she has adapted really well and now her training is good. Her skating is going really well.

“The ice is good for a skater like Deanna. At the Olympics, because we share the ice with the Figure Skating, it is soft. That is very good for light people.”

Lockett will race in the fourth heat of the 1500m, and her high international ranking means that she has a favourable draw.

“She’s a little bit lucky with the draw,” Zhang said. “But that doesn’t guarantee her a spot in the semi-finals. Sometimes you skate better if you have stronger opponents so she will have to work hard regardless.”

Someone that will be watching the race as closely as Zhang is 2002 Olympic Champion Steven Bradbury.

“Deanna’s an incredibly hard working athlete,” Bradbury said.

“She’s been skating since she was nine and she never complains – she always wants to work hard. At 18, these Games might be a fraction early for her, but the Olympic experience is invaluable and she’ll be a big threat in 2018.”

After watching Li Jianrou’s unlikely gold in the 500m after Great Britain’s Elise Christie fell and took the rest of the field with her, Bradbury said it was “just crazy”.

“It’s hard for me to even make comment on it because everyone is drawing comparisons to what happened to me, and rightly so.

“Christie should have had more patience to make her pass. But that said, it’s a fine line, If you make your move and it works then you’re a hero. But if it doesn’t work, you look stupid.”

Bradbury doesn’t think that the result of the 500m will impact the way the athletes now go into the rest of the events.

“I don’t think too many people are going to change their tactics based on a previous race. But there are young heads out there with little experience who are after Olympic medals. Anything could happen.”

Both Zhang and Bradbury are confident the Lockett has the talent and clear head to progress from her heat into the semi-final, and from there push for a finals berth.

“Making the final is a stretched target for Deanna,” Bradbury said, “but it is an achievable one. If she draws a semi with two Korean skaters, it will be tough. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

It’s expected that the podium will be dominated by Korea and China.

If China’s Zhou wins gold, she will equal compatriot Wang Meng’s record of winning gold in the same Short Track event at consecutive Olympics (Meng won 500m gold in Torino and Vancouver).

Li will be looking to add to her precious metal collection, having already won 500m gold earlier this week. Only three women in the world have ever won two Short Track gold medals at the same Games before and never in the 500m/1500m combination.

Still a junior and a few months younger even than Lockett, Korea’s Shim has had an incredibly strong couple of years on the senior circuit. A silver medallist in the 1500m at the 2013 World Championships, Shim also won gold at three of the four World Cups this season, winning silver in the fourth. She is the overall World Cup leader and a hot favourite for gold.