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Hong Kong star runner Christy Yiu gives marathon a miss to have first child between Olympic Games

The Olympian hopes to come back even stronger after pregnancy as she targets second Games in Tokyo 2020

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Christy Yiu Kit-ching and Hard Tsui Chi-kin pose with reigning champions Letebrhan Haylay Gebreslasea and Mike Kiprotich Mutai ahead of the race. Photo: Press release
James Porteous

Hong Kong’s top female marathon runner Christy Yiu Kit-ching will miss Sunday’s race for the first time in several years, but the Olympian had a pretty good excuse.

“I decided not to participate as I want to have a baby,” revealed Yiu, the fastest local woman last year. “Right now I’ve had a few early signs [of pregnancy] so I’ve stopped training, though there’s not enough weeks for the ultrasound.”

With the 28-year-old targeting the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, she and her husband, fellow elite runner Chan Ka-ho, knew they had a narrow window to try for their first child.

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And Yiu hopes to emulate Maggie Chan Man-yee, who set the long-standing women’s Hong Kong marathon record (2:35:49) just a few months after giving birth. Yiu was 22 seconds off Chan’s record in blistering heat at the Rio Olympics.

“I’m very nervous, because to make it to Tokyo, I need to give birth this year so that I can return to training as soon as possible,” added Yiu, a nurse before she took up running full-time.

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“I’m still thinking how the other women manage it – you know Paula Radcliffe after she gave birth just a few months later she still ran some of her best times [winning the New York Marathon after having her first child].

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