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Shirley Chui

Wong Wan-chun sets off for Australia on Wednesday on the next leg of his ambitious journey to qualify for the marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Hong Kong distance runner, who holds the city records at 5,000m, 10km, 15km and half-marathon, will compete in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships this Saturday in Bathurst as the first of two warm-ups for the Hamburg Marathon in April.
Wong, the only Hong Kong runner in the championships, qualified courtesy of his 10km time of 29 minutes and 27 seconds on the Gold Coast last July.
And while he hopes to improve on his 135th place in 2019, when he ran a 39:35, the different nature of the surface means he is not making any predictions.
“It’s not a road race, I cannot predict what time I’ll finish, but I hope to finish in a better position and see my improvements over the last four years compared to the world’s best,” he said.


There are 230 men and women registered for this weekend’s race, including defending champion Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, who won four years ago in Aarhus, Denmark, in a time of won 31:40.
“I don’t do it for fun,” Wong said. “Every competition is a warm-up and true test for me to qualify for the Paris Olympics.”
After the cross country, the 27-year-old has already signed up for the Berlin Half Marathon on April 2, with his race in Hamburg Marathon three weeks later.
The Olympic qualifying cycle began on November 1, 2022, and Wong also has targeted the Berlin Marathon on September 24 and the Valencia Marathon on December 3 as part of that process.
However, it is highly unlikely that Wong, who ran a 2:25:59 at Sunday’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, will reach the entry standard of 2:08:10 for the men’s race, but with 80 spots up for grabs he could get in if he can improve his world ranking.
“Actually, my goal time for the Hong Kong Marathon was under two hours 20 minutes, but some sponsorships were not settled, which put me under a lot of pressure,” he said.

Wong’s ability at the longer distance was on show over the weekend, where he led the domestic runners for much of the race before running out of gas and finishing second, one minute and fourteen seconds behind Hong Kong record holder Gi Ka-man.
“It was the strategy to lead at the start of the race, I know it’s risky, but overall I’m happy with my performance,” Wong said.
To qualify for the Paris Olympics, athletes must either meet the standard time or rank in the world. Wong said his first step towards meeting that goals was to run around 2:13 in the coming marathons.
With only three marathon runners from each country allowed to compete in the Olympics, Gi and Wong, are currently ranked 179 and 189 on the World Athletics ranking list after being filtered by three from each country.
Separately, Macau will host its 2023 Sands Macao International 10k on March 19 at Sai Van Lake Square, with the finish inside the Olympic Sport Centre Stadium.
A total of 10,000 places are available for two races, with 7,000 spots allocated for the 10k and 3,000 for a 5k fun run.
Registration for the main race opens at 9am on Saturday, with the fun run opening up the following day, on the official website www.macao10k.com or mobile app Macao 10K.


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2024 Paris Olympics: Hong Kong marathon man Wong takes next step on ambitious journey to reach Games

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Wong Wan-chun will take part in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships this Saturday. Photo: Shirley Chui

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Gi Ka-man celebrates at the finish line. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

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Hong Kong Marathon women’s local winner Wong Cheuk-ning at the finish line in Victoria Park.

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Wong Wan-chun will take part in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships this Saturday
The 27-year-old is using the event as a warm-up for the Hamburg Marathon in April, his first opportunity to qualify for Paris


Wong Wan-chun will take part in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships this Saturday.
