[Sports Road News]The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing from the 4th to the 20th of next month. For the first time, three athletes from Hong Kong have qualified for the competition. Among them, Adrian and Audrey will They will compete in the men’s and women’s alpine skiing events; Zhu Dingwen (Sidney) will compete in the men’s short track speed skating event.
Hong Kong has sent athletes to participate in the Winter Olympics since 2002. Except for two athletes in the first appearance, the Hong Kong team only has one athlete to participate in the next four Winter Olympics. Therefore, there are 3 athletes in the Beijing Winter Olympics. It’s a big breakthrough to have a famous athlete in the competition.
In the alpine skiing event, a total of 306 athletes from 84 countries and regions participated in various events. Adrian and Audrey won two seats for Hong Kong because they met the minimum basic requirements for being shortlisted for the Winter Olympics. Jin Hexiao, 19, is no stranger to the Olympics because she also represented Hong Kong at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland two years ago. At that time, Audrey participated in the giant slalom (unfinished) and the slalom project, and achieved a total of 32nd in the latter, which is the second best Asian player.
Jin Hexiao, who was selected for the Hong Kong team at the age of 13, has participated in many international competitions in recent years. She chose to take a year off from school this year in order to enter the Winter Olympics. She said: “I worked hard to reach my goal step by step. At first I thought it was impossible, but I have made great progress in the past two seasons. When I realized that I had the opportunity to participate in the Winter Olympics, I was really looking forward to it and felt very excited. Lucky. I was born and raised in Hong Kong all the time, so it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to represent Hong Kong at the Winter Olympics.”
Although Weng Houquan, who is two years younger than Audrey, has no experience in the Winter Youth Olympics, he has been involved in skiing since he was 3 years old, and he is naturally quite proficient in this sport. He said: “Of course I am very happy and very nervous to be able to compete in the Winter Olympics, because the Beijing Winter Olympics is the biggest skiing competition. It is definitely my proudest moment, but I have participated in the competition for nine years and know how to deal with nervousness.” Weng Houquan Will also participate in the giant slalom and slalom two events.
As for Sidney, who will compete in the men’s short track speed skating event, he has won a number of local events in the past, and in 2019 he even won a silver medal in the 1,000m at the Asian Championships. Zhu Dingwen had previously targeted the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, but he injured his right calf bone during preparations, and finally the Winter Olympics dream was broken. After 4 years of hard work, Zhu Dingwen finally set foot on the stage of the Five Rings at this Beijing Winter Olympics.
A total of 32 athletes from 17 countries and regions will participate in the men’s short track speed skating 500m event. The preliminary round will be held on February 11. As for the alpine skiing events that Weng Houquan and Jin and Xiao will participate in, they will be held on 4 days. The women’s giant slalom and slalom events will be held on February 7th and 9th, while the men’s giant slalom and slalom events will be staged on February 13th and 16th.
This article is by “Sportsroad“Originally published in “[Winter Olympics know more]Hong Kong team 3 athletes have the most points in the history of alpine skiing and short track speed skating」