Hong Kong’s next generation of Winter Olympians nurtured by speed skater Sidney Chu
2026 Games in Milano-Cortina only weeks away, but Chu is already looking ahead as his academy raises standards and changes lives
Hong Kong speed skater Sidney Chu is set to retire after February’s Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, but his next race is already under way as he turns his focus to developing the next generation.
The 26-year-old Chu, who represented the city at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, has described his status as already “semi-retired” since the Asian Winter Games last February. However, a major date remains in the diary: he is the alternate for Hong Kong’s men’s short-track speed skating spot at the coming Olympics.
After the Games in Italy, he will pivot. Having founded the Hong Kong Speed Skating Academy in 2022, Chu now serves as its executive director. What began as a small initiative has evolved into a thriving community, with three full-time and four part-time coaches training more than 200 students each month.
At the same time, Chu is pursuing a doctor of medicine degree at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in the United States.
“You can call me Dr Chu after June,” said Chu, who will begin a three-year paediatric residency before returning to Hong Kong to continue practising while running the skating academy.