Beijing 2022: Hong Kong set to send largest-ever squad for Winter Olympics – three athletes
- Two skiers and a short-track speed skater have reached the qualifying standards to compete in Beijing, though the names have yet to be confirmed
- Hong Kong were represented by two short-track speed skaters in their 2002 Winter Games debut in Salt Lake City
Hong Kong are set to send their largest-ever squad to the Winter Olympics after being given a short-track speedskating slot for the Beijing 2022 Games.
On Thursday, the International Skating Union confirmed all quotas for the Beijing Games, with one spot allocated to Hong Kong in the men’s 500 metres short-track speedskating event.
The speed-skater, who has yet to be chosen, is eligible to join two skiers at the Beijing Winter Olympics from February 4-20. The skiers have met the minimum standards for Alpine skiing, giving Hong Kong a total of three places in Beijing.
Last month, star skater Sui Xin set a Hong Kong record of 41.004 seconds in the World Cup series in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, finishing in 12th place.
His performance came after three other appearances in the series in Beijing, Nagoya and Debrecen, with Sui finishing 21st overall based on his three best results. He did enough to earn Hong Kong one of the 32 tickets available for the event at the Winter Games.
The first time Hong Kong fielded a squad for the Winter Games was in 2002 when two short-track speed skaters qualified for the Salt Lake City Olympics.
Hong Kong have since sent at least one athlete to each of the following Games – the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang, when Arabella Ng became the first skier to qualify on merit.
The three-member squad to Beijing could form the largest delegation from Hong Kong, although an official from the Olympic Committee said they were still waiting for confirmation from the two governing bodies – the Ski Association and the Hong Kong Skating Union.
Ski Association secretary general Samson Siu is confident they would send one male skier and one female skier to Beijing and would choose the athletes once the qualification races are completed in mid-January.
“So far we have one man and one woman who have reached the minimum standard and under normal practice they would be allowed to take part in the Games,” said Siu. “But in the women’s event, we have an upcoming skier who is still chasing the qualification standard and if she makes it before next month’s deadline, we will have to make a selection in accordance with our criteria.”
While Arabella Ng, Hong Kong’s sole representative at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, has reached the standard, another skier, Audrey King, is chasing hard. The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games athlete is keen to step up to the next level and compete in Beijing.
King has been admitted to the Harvard University but has delayed her studies to focus on sport and is now working hard in Europe in a last-ditch effort to qualify.
In the men’s event, Adrian Yung is the natural choice with no other male skier from Hong Kong coming close to the standard.
The men’s short-track speedskating berth, however, also needs to go through a selection process before the governing body puts forward a candidate to the Olympic Committee.
Sui, a former China national youth champion who switched to represent Hong Kong in 2017, is ineligible to take part in the Olympics because he has yet to fulfil seven years of residency to obtain a Hong Kong passport. His place is likely to be taken over by Sidney Chu or Kwok Tsz-fung, who also took part in the World Cup series.
