Ma Chih-hung (
Practice earlier this week in Turin, Italy, led to a dramatic crash and a hospital visit for Czech competitor Jakub Hyman. Four racers ended up in the hospital when the track opened a year ago.
At the suggestion of coaches and athletes, the track has seen modifications on two turns at the bottom section of 1,435m track, and athletes have been warned about the dangerous "Toro" section -- a series of three right turns in the middle portion.
PHOTO: AP
Bobsled racers will be competing on the same track, though luge specialists face considerably greater risk since they have virtually no protection.
Ma grew up in rural Pingtung County -- a place where temperatures never approach freezing and few children have any experience riding sleds down mountain slopes.
Olympic competitions in the past 20 years have become more regulated, with athletes needing to qualify for Olympic competition rather than simply proving they are the best in their respective countries. Competitors need to rank within the top 30 percent in internationally sanctioned events. In luge and bobsled, there are other conditions, including performances on different tracks and participation in at least five sanctioned competitions.
PHOTO: AFP
Hsu Chi-you, president of the Amateur Chinese Taipei Luge and Bobsled Association said that local athletes need to beat out three to five different competitors from Europe and North America. A typical event may attract 100 competitors, with a top-30 finish earning one point toward qualification.
Hsu participated in the two-man bobsled event in Sarajevo in 1984. since then he has completely dedicated himself to developing local luge and bobsled talent.
Maintaining a bobsled team has become increasingly difficult, he said, since teams of two or four competitors need to take part in long-term training that is expensive.
Local luge and bobsled athletes are generally recruited from high school track and field teams, but after experiencing their first terrifying run, they usually quit.
Hsu recently developed a year-round training program based on luge and skeletons outfitted with wheels. Similar to the extreme sport of street luge, which grew out of skateboarders sitting down and "butt boarding" down large hills, this type of training has helped his group identify potential international competitors.
Ma, 19, is considered a prodigy by his European instructors, as he possesses a natural, innate ability to make it through treacherous courses.
Ma has received generous government funding to cover much of the cost of his training. He has also benefited from training and instruction by Chen Ching-shan, a four-time Olympic bobsledder who's last appearance was with Taiwan's two-man bobsled team at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Chen is a physical education instructor at Laiyi Senior High School in Pingtung where he is constantly on the lookout for bobsled, luge and skeleton talent.
Chen typically puts students through a two-to-three month training program on street luges and skeletons before selecting four or five candidates for training in Europe.
Many of the top athletes at Laiyi Senior High are from the nearby Paiwan Tribe of indigenous people, a group that is particularly known for being fearless.
"Our European coaches say its difficult to find an athlete as talented and gifted as Ma," Hsu said. "If he decides to attend college in Europe, with better access to luge and bobsled runs, he can become a great competitor."
Ma's first run takes place today at 4pm local time. He is slated to be the 26th competitor down the track.
South Korea’s two-goal skipper Son Heung-min said that “not pleasant” comments from opponents China had fired him up to do the business in their FIFA World Cup qualifying clash. The Tottenham Hotspur forward scored twice and set up the third as Jurgen Klinsmann’s side won 3-0 on Tuesday to silence a sell-out home crowd of more than 40,000 in Shenzhen. South Korea have a perfect six points from their opening two qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup in North America and have scored eight goals, conceding none. “Honestly, when I heard they [the China team and media] were saying they know how
HATS OFF: After Sinner became the first man to beat the Serbian in a singles match at the Davis Cup since 2011, Djokovic said all he could do was congratulate his opponent A “proud” Jannik Sinner on Saturday beat world No. 1 Novak Djokovic twice in one day to send Italy into the Davis Cup final with a 2-1 win over Serbia in Malaga. Italy, who won the trophy for the first and only time in 1976, was yesterday to face 28-time winners Australia. Sinner, who has triumphed three times in four clashes across 11 days against the usually unstoppable Djokovic, crucially kept Italy in the tie by beating the 24-time Grand Slam winner 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in the second singles rubber. Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego then defeated Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-4 in
Tokyo’s well-kept streets might not be the most obvious place to do it, but competitive litter-hunters yesterday sifted through the Japanese capital in their first world championship. The Spogomi World Cup featured 21 countries battling it out to collect the most trash within a set time limit, scouring the streets in search of plastic, cigarette butts and other trash. Spogomi founder Kenichi Mamitsuka started to pick up litter on his morning runs and realized that setting targets could turn it into a fun activity. He organized his first competition 15 years ago, taking the title from the words “sport” and “gomi” — Japanese
David Benavidez on Saturday retained the interim world super middleweight belt by stopping Demetrius Andrade after the sixth round, while in Ireland, Katie Taylor avenged her only professional loss by beating Chantelle Cameron in a majority decision to become a two-weight undisputed champion. In what was billed as clash of styles that could go the distance between unbeaten 168-pounders (76.2kg), Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) looked more like a clinician with a dominating performance before Andrade’s corner requested the stoppage after the sixth round in Las Vegas. Andrade (32-1) suffered the first loss of his career. Benavidez is widely recognized as the world’s best
RSS