Why Sidney Chu is building a future for Hong Kong winter sport athletes
The city’s best speed skater recalls always going to mainland China to train, but he hopes to develop local talent in Hong Kong.
Sidney Chu in action at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin. Photo: ReutersEvery week, Talking Points gives you a worksheet to practise your reading comprehension with exercises about the story we’ve written.
Sidney Chu has a reputation as Hong Kong’s best speed skater. He even represented the city in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Now, the 25-year-old is not just looking for his own success.
“I always thought if I ever make the Olympics, my goal is to make sure that the next generation doesn’t have to put in as much work as I had to,” he said.
Passion pays off
While playing hockey as a kid, Chu came to enjoy the rush of skating at high speeds.
“I love that feeling of going fast on the ice,” Chu said.
As an 11-year-old, he had his first look at speed skating while watching the 2010 Winter Olympics. Chu knew he had to try the sport.
“I found out that Hong Kong actually had this once-a-week recreational speed skating practice in Festival Walk,” he said.
He fell in love instantly.
“It was exactly what I wanted from [ice] hockey,” he said. “There was this whole sport dedicated to just going fast on the ice.”
Hong Kong-raised karting star is speeding to success
Chu had a lot of passion, but he knew that becoming a winter sport athlete would not be easy.
He had to take a 2½-hour bus ride to Dongguan in Guangdong province, after school on Friday nights to spend the weekend training.
“I honestly missed out on a lot of school because I just had to [travel] almost every weekend,” he said.
Chu added that he was jealous of athletes from other sports who could train closer to home.
But the hard work paid off when he made Hong Kong’s team for the 2022 Games.
Working towards the Olympics
Unlike many other sports, speed skating “is very tied to the Olympics”, according to Chu. His coach encouraged him to train for the Games. One session on the ice a week was not enough.
“I started going to northeastern China and other places to search for more professional training opportunities,” Chu said.
The speed skater achieved his “childhood dream” by going to the Olympics at the age of 22.
Mainland social media users quickly embraced him.
He asked himself: “How can I turn this media attention and this energy into something that I can use back in Hong Kong?”
For the next generation
The media attention helped Chu to create more speed skating opportunities in Hong Kong.
“I floated this idea with my coaches ... to start a club in Hong Kong ... to make sure that speed skating has a home in Hong Kong,” he said. “[The Winter Olympics] was the perfect time to do this.”
He used this momentum to start the Hong Kong Speed Skating Academy. The academy provides lessons for youngsters and aims to improve the sport’s popularity.
Chu hopes this will help provide a base for young speed skaters in Hong Kong, so they will not always have to train on the mainland.
He recently represented the city in the 2025 Asian Winter Games, which wrapped up in February.
Chu said he would be excited to see an athlete from the next generation of Hongkongers winning an Olympic medal.
“If I can see one of my students in the future go on that podium and win that Olympic gold medal, that would make my dream come true,” the star skater said.
“Even if it’s one of my students 10 years down the line, that would [mean] the world to me.”
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momentum 勢頭
where the progress or success is building up
paid off 值得
a phrase meaning something was worth the effort
represented 代表
to stand on behalf of something
reputation 聲譽
what someone is known for. The generation perception of someone or something
rush 興奮
a sudden feeling of excitement, energy, and adrenaline
wrapped up 結束
a phrase meaning that something concluded or was completed