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.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
RSS