Sarah Lindsay has admitted her big medal gamble has been giving her sleepless nights in the build-up to her third Winter Olympics.

The Kingston-based short track speed skater made the decision to focus solely on the 500m in Vancouver – which could have restricted her appearance to a mere cameo.

However, the move looked to have paid dividends after she progressed to this week’s quarter-finals with a solid second place in her heat, just fractions behind Canada’s Marianne St-Gelais.

Lindsay, 29, will now hope for a favourable draw as she looks to improve on her eighth-place finish four years ago in Turin.

“My plan was to be aggressive, which I did, but the next step was to stay calm, which I didn’t manage,” she admitted.

“My biggest fear was that I would do four years hard training and then come here and it would all be over after one race.

“I tried very hard not to focus on that, but it was always there at the back of my mind – that was my nightmare scenario.”

Lindsay will be joined in the next round by team-mate Elise Christie but a familiar face set the pace.

In an unpredictable sport of few guarantees, China's Wang Meng comes as close as it is possible to a racing certainty over the women's sprint distance.

Barely beaten in the last three years, she was the most comfortable qualifier during the opening heats.

The world record holder progressed in style, adding the Olympic record to her collection, when she clocked 43.926 points.

Chinese team-mate Zhou Yang also looked strong, while American Katherine Reutter underlined her medal credentials.

“She’s a class opponent but there are some very strong other medal contenders,” added Lindsay, who finished sixth at last year’s World Championships.

“However, I’m right in there and the hard bit is done now. Hopefully the next few rounds will sort themselves out.”

Lloyds TSB, proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and supporter of Team GB on their journey to Vancouver 2010. Visit LloydsTSB.com/London2012