Hong Kong’s Christy Yiu handed World Athletics Championships marathon spot, crushing wild-card dreams for rest
- City’s marathon record holder qualifies for event in Oregon after organisers expand field to include top 100
- Yiu is ranked 99th in world but her inclusion means city no longer gets to send wild card entry, meaning likes of sprinter Ng Ka-fung will miss out
The 34-year-old qualifies courtesy of her world ranking of 99th, after organisers increased the field for the event in Oregon to 100, 30 more than in the previous competition in Doha in 2019.
Yiu was unlikely to reach the qualifying standard for the event, with her Hong Kong record of 2 hours 31 minutes 24 seconds, set last May in Italy, almost two minutes slower than the required mark of 2:29:30 for the women’s race.
That meant Yiu, sprinter Ng Ka-fung, hurdler Vera Lui Lai-yiu and long jumper Chan Ming-tai were all hoping to be the lucky recipient of the city’s one wild card entry.
However, Yiu’s qualification puts an end to that slot, meaning the other three are likely to miss out unless they can reach their respective standards by June 26.
“We are still waiting official confirmation by World Athletics [about Yiu] but if she qualifies, there will be no wild cards for Hong Kong athletes,” Dennis Ng Yu-ho, executive director of Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates, said.
For Ng, it leaves him needing to smash his own Hong Kong 100 metres record of 10.28 seconds, with the men’s qualifying mark set at 10.05 secs. Last weekend, Ng clocked a 10.58 in the heats of the 100m at the Hong Kong Athletics Series 3 meet at Wan Chai Sports Ground.
