Vera Lui wins her 100m hurdles final in a disappointing 13.55 seconds at wet Hong Kong Championships

Hurdler Vera Lui Lai-yiu failed to better her personal best time in the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the Asics Hong Kong Athletics Championships after unforeseen circumstances scuppered her bid.

Lui had appeared confident of bettering her best mark of 13.32 set at the Asian Championships a fortnight ago but her hopes were dashed by Sunday’s wet weather and the fact that she qualified straight into the final without running a heat.

The heat was cancelled after two young runners missed the deadline by less than a minute, meaning she didn’t have a lead up race going into the final. In the end, she won the race, but clocked a mediocre 13.55 seconds.

“The weather and other conditions were far better on Saturday and we had already warmed up for the heats,” said a disappointed Lui, who won the race under grey skies with rain puddles on the track. “I was ready to put up another good race but then we found out there were insufficient runners for the two heats after two young athletes turned up late.

“We could still have had the race under better conditions if we had been given some flexibility as we understand the two young athletes were late by less than a minute. The organisers have done nothing wrong as they followed the rules. It’s always good to be punctual, especially for athletes.”

Hong Kong’s top hurdler will now target the Taiwan Open later this month in a bid to improve her best mark, with the ultimate target of breaking the Hong Kong record of 13.14 set by Chan Sau-ying in the United States in 1994.