2026 Winter Olympics: ISU bosses leave speed skater Lam’s Milan dream hanging by a thread
Short-track speed skater Joey Lam qualified for women’s 1,500m, but last-minute change to quota allocation leaves hopes in tatters
Joey Lam Ching-yan’s Winter Olympics dream hangs in the balance despite the Hong Kong short-track speed skater having qualified for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games in February.
A last-minute change to the International Skating Union (ISU) quota allocation, which only hit women’s races, has left her just outside the qualifying list.
The 19-year-old ranked 35th in the Special Olympic Qualifying Classification (SOQC) for the women’s 1,500 metres, based on her top three results from four World Cup events this year.
Hong Kong Olympian Sidney Chu, who represented the city at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, expressed his “extreme disappointment” with the ISU’s decision on social media, describing it as a blow to both fairness and transparency in the qualification process.
Under the ISU’s published qualification system, the top 36 skaters in women’s 1,500m secure Olympic starting places, which initially guaranteed Lam a spot at next February’s Games.
However, the ISU confirmed earlier this month that the International Olympic Committee’s overall quota cap of 112 short-track athletes across both men’s, women’s and mixed events had been reached.