‘Kenneth To would be watching us from above’ – men’s 400m freestyle record tumble in Olympic qualifier
- The 16-year-old Cheuk Ming-ho is hoping Hong Kong men can qualify for the Olympics for the first time
- The teenager smashes his own national mark by more than two seconds in Festival of Sport Time Trial
Promising youngster Cheuk Ming-ho took a step closer to reaching the Olympic qualifying A standard and fulfilling a dream set by former record-breaking swimmer Kenneth To King-him, who died tragically last month during training in Florida.
Cheuk smashed his own mark on his way to a new national record in the men’s 400m freestyle on Saturday. His time of three minutes and 53.05 seconds in the final of the 62nd Festival of Sport Time Trial at the Sports Institute in Fo Tan was more than two seconds inside his own Hong Kong record of 3:55.13 set at last year’s Asian Games in Jakarta.
Cheuk is trying to achieve what the late Kenneth To King-him had set his life to do and it remains something close to Cheuk’s heart that he could fill in the void left behind by his former roommate and friend, whose death in the US shocked the swimming world.
“Making the Olympic A standard for Hong Kong was Kenneth’s biggest wish and it’s very unfortunate [that he was unable to reach it],” said Cheuk, who was To’s roommate when they competed overseas together.