The 2026 Winter Olympics has come too soon for some of Hong Kong’s young athletes, but the next generation of speed skating hopefuls is already taking aim at future Games.

Inspired by Sidney Chu’s appearance at the 2022 edition in Beijing, scores of skaters – the youngest just five years old – took to the ice at Discovery Bay for the annual Hong Kong Cup on Tuesday.

Tristan Lo Cheuk-yan took the men’s elite Junior A 1,000m and 500m titles, clocking one minute, 41.72 seconds and 47.029 seconds, respectively.

Having trained in the sport for almost four years, the 15-year-old said he had caught the skating bug after watching Chu compete at the National Speed Skating Oval almost four years ago.

Now based in Toronto, Lo said the training environment in Canada was very different from Hong Kong.

“There is more off-ice training, including strength work, in Hong Kong because of limited ice time,” Lo said. “In Canada, I get more time on the ice, which helps me improve my feel and rhythm during skating.”