Amelia Chua secures second spot for Singapore at 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games
Amelia Chua was left disappointed as she fell just short of earning a 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) berth for Singapore in January’s International Skating Union (ISU) World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships.
Being Singapore’s only female representative at the competition, which offered places at the Gangwon Winter YOG, nerves got the better of the 17-year-old.
At the competition in Dresden, Germany, 36 quota spots per gender were handed out, with allocation based on the ISU’s overall special classification curated from the athlete’s performance over three distances – 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m.
Amelia ranked 39th in the 1,500m, 42nd in the 500m and 33rd in the 1,000m, which was not enough to secure one of the 36 spots but it placed her in the reserve list.
Nearly 10 months after the competition, she unexpectedly received a call from her parents and sister while she was in school, informing her that she had been given the quota spot following the withdrawal of one of the countries from the quadrennial YOG.
Amelia said: “It is a huge privilege to represent Singapore at the Winter Youth Olympic Games. I am so glad to be able to qualify the quota spot for Singapore at Gangwon.
“I was really nervous going into the qualifiers, as I was the only Singaporean girl competing against countries with big teams of older and more experienced skaters.
“Achieving this spot is a really big personal milestone and I am looking forward to racing for Singapore in January.”
This is the second spot the Republic has confirmed at the upcoming Winter YOG, which will be held from Jan 19 to Feb 1.
National short-track speed skater Ryo Ong had in February qualified Singapore for the competition through the 2023 ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships.
At the previous Winter YOG in 2020 in Lausanne, Singapore made its debut and was represented by Matthew Hamnett (mixed 3x3 ice hockey) plus short track speed skaters Trevor Tan and Alyssa Pok.
Although Amelia felt the chance to get the quota spot was gone, there was no time to dwell on it.
The following week, she made her senior debut at the ISU World Cup Dresden, where she clocked a national record in the 500m event.
She has also been alone in the United Kingdom for the past few months after convincing her parents to let her go overseas to pursue her studies and speed skating following the news of the impending closure of Singapore’s only Olympic-sized ice rink located in JCube.
Through conversations with other athletes at international competitions, she discovered that Nottingham had a good elite skating programme and set her sights on relocating there.
The United Kingdom was also an ideal location for her as she wanted to read law there. While initially reluctant, her parents eventually relented and Amelia enrolled in the University of Nottingham International College.
Living alone overseas was tough initially for the teenager, but she has settled in well and has even learnt how to cook.
With the Winter YOG on her mind, Amelia said: “I worked very hard to obtain the spot and I am working hard now to hopefully be selected to fill the spot.”
There will be a final round of selection by the Singapore Ice Skating Association (Sisa) and the Singapore National Olympic Council to decide who competes at the Winter YOG.
Sisa president Alison Chan said: “This shows that our youth development programme under national short track coach Zhao Yanzhi has momentum and traction.
“We are confident that Ryo and Amelia will be flying our flag in Gangwon. We look forward to having them share their WYOG journey – from qualifying the quota spots for Singapore to preparing for and competing at the Games – to inspire our next generation of youth Olympians.”
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