HK skater Sidney Chu fails to qualify in speedskating

Defending Olympic champion Wu Dajing of China easily qualified in the heats of 500-metre short track speedskating event at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Friday.

Compatriot Ren Ziwei will also move on to the quarterfinals on Sunday, as will Steven Dubois of Canada and Hwang Daeheon of South Korea. Liu Shaolin Sandor and his brother, world champion Liu Shaoang, of Hungary also advanced. Their American-born teammate, John-Henry Krueger, qualified, too.

But Lee Juneseo of South Korea crashed and was penalized in his heat, while American Ryan Pivirotto was eliminated.

One of Hong Kong’s three winter Olympians, Sidney Chu, skated in the same heat as Wu, but finished more than four seconds behind the home favourite with a time of 44.857 seconds.

That time wasn’t nearly enough to get him into the quarterfinals, but speaking ahead of the race, he told RTHK it was an incredible journey just to get to Beijing, and he would never have made it without the efforts of head coach and two-time Olympic medalist, Sun Dandan.

“She’s a superwoman. It’s incredible – especially under the pandemic, training in Hong Kong where the ice rinks were closed… How do we beat the UK? how do we beat Turkey? How do we beat these teams given our circumstances, and we have, thanks to her guidance and leadership.”

“It’s really sort of a miracle.”

Hong Kong’s third and final hope for Winter Olympic success is Adrian Yung. The 17 year old is the youngest member of Hong Kong’s 2022 Winter Olympic team, and will compete in the men’s giant slalom on Sunday. (Additional reporting by AP)