SKIING - The 16-year-old finally got the chance to showcase her skills for the city after several delays to the giant slalom event
Arabella Ng, Hong Kong’s only athlete in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, finished 56th out of the 58 skiers who completed the two runs in the women’s giant slalom today.
She made history as the first athlete from Hong Kong to compete in a snow event at the Winter Olympics, as the rest of the city’s athletes have competed in speed-skating events.
After several delays because of harsh winds, Arabella finally got the chance to showcase her skills on the slopes and punched in a final time of two minutes, 50.54 seconds at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre.
The fact that she completed the two runs was impressive in itself, as 20 skiers unable to finish, while three others were disqualified. Arabella also had significantly less time to prepare than other athletes, as she did not know she would be competing until shortly before the event.
When it became official that she would competing in the games, Arabella’s father Tim Ng told South China Morning Post, “Most athletes would have 12 months to prepare for this event, we have four weeks.”
What’s more, at just 16 years old, Arabella was one of the youngest competitors in the event, and has plenty of time to grow as an athlete.
Arabella came 63rd during her first run with a time of 1:27.25, but improved on her second with a time of 1:23.29. She finished just behind China’s Kong Fanying, who came 55th with a combined time of 2:49.88.
She was more than 30 seconds slower than the eventual gold medallist, 22-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin from the US, who finished with a time of 2:20.02.