Hong Kong triathletes out to make home advantage count in race to reach Youth Olympics

Hong Kong’s rising triathlon stars are preparing to compete at the final Youth Olympics qualifying event on home soil next weekend, as they look to end a years-long absence from the Games.

The CCB International Asia Triathlon Junior and Under-23 Championships will be the last opportunity for the region’s hopefuls to earn qualifying points for this year’s Olympics in Dakar before the window closes at the end of March.

Traditionally, Hong Kong has sent one male and one female triathlete to the Youth Olympics, including those in Singapore in 2010 and Nanjing four years later.

That streak was stopped by the coronavirus pandemic, while continuing changes to eligibility standards had also proved a challenge, team head coach Arthur Cheung Tak-hei said.

“The rules change every time,” Cheung said. “The eligible age sometimes is 16 to 17, sometimes it’s 17 to 18, and we don’t know what it will be next time.”

Making things tougher was the fact that Hong Kong was rarely told which races counted towards qualification, Cheung said.