Fit again Chole Chan sprints to her fastest time in 3½ years at Hong Kong Athletics Championships
- Chan wins women’s 100 metres in 12.14 seconds after clocking 12.07 in heats as 22-year-old confident of regaining best form
- She set a Hong Kong women’s junior record of 11.85 when competing at the Asian Junior Championships six years ago
Chole Chan Pui-kei recorded her fastest time in more than 3½ years to blow away the competition and win the women’s 100 metres at the Hong Kong Athletics Championships on Saturday.
The Polytechnic University student finished in 12.14 seconds, well ahead of Kong Chun-ki and Leung Wing-hei, who finished second and third in 12.25 and 12.39 respectively. Chan clocked 12.07 seconds in the heats.
While her time was well outside her personal best of 11.85, for Chan just coming close to breaking the 12 second mark was cause for delight.
“I clocked 11.85 when I was 16 years old and back in those days it was like a piece of cake for me to finish under 12 seconds,” she said. “But over the last couple of years I was never able to come close to that time.
“I could not figure out what went wrong. I did the same training, I put in the same amount of effort but just could not be getting there. But today’s 12.07 has revitalised my hopes and I am pretty sure given a bit more time I can run below 12 again sooner or later.”
Her 11.85 still stands as a Hong Kong junior record, which she set in the Asian Junior Championships in Vietnam in 2016.