HOW HONG KONG’S SPEEDIEST TEEN WENT FROM HATING SCHOOL TO THE FAST LANE

Alton Kwok may not fit the traditional Hong Kong model of student-athlete, but he does have parents who helped him achieve his goals

He is the fastest teenaged runner in Hong Kong but for Alton Kwok Chun-ting, running on the tartan track was nothing but an escape from things he hated.

The city's under-20 record holder in the 100 metres, Kwok knew, from the moment he started sprinting as a primary 2 pupil, why he liked running - and it was not about "being fast or beating other people".

Far from it.

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"I always hated school, words and numbers fried my brain, and I always wanted to quit," said the 17-year-old, who last month broke the age-group record with a 10.37-second run at the Hong Kong Athletics Series 3 at Wan Chai Sports Ground.

"But the one thing that got me going was that I knew I could attend training after school.

"Running has always been my source of comfort - it is what I feel most comfortable doing. Running is kind of my solution to everything."

While Kwok may not fit the traditional Hong Kong model of a student-athlete, he did have understanding parents.

Alton's mother, Bobo Kwok Ka-po, remembered her son having difficulty "dealing with Chinese and mathematics" and always needing to exhaust himself at the park for an hour after school before he could focus on homework.

"When he discovered sprinting, his focus and determination were much better than before," she said.

"So, we made a deal: I would cut him some slack on the academic front only if he performed on the track."

From being the slowest on the team to the fastest just two years later, Kwok's passion for running only grew deeper - and he kept his end of the bargain.

"I did things that I knew I needed to do even though I hated it," said Kwok, who was third at the Asian under-20 Athletics Championships in Dubai last year. "I kept studying."

Kwok ended up graduating from Tai Kwong Hilary College, and was admitted in late March into Hong Kong University, where he will do a business degree.

Two weeks later, he wrote his name into the record books at the Hong Kong Athletics Series 3, and last Sunday finished third at the Hong Kong Athletics Championships.

Kwok, whose father, Kwok Wai-hang, is a hairdresser while his mother is a housewife, always knew what he wanted to achieve even at a young age.

"Providing for loved ones, or being the first person that comes to mind when Hong Kong track and field is brought up," said Kwok, who has a younger sister and brother. "But I am still an average nobody right now and still have a lot of work to do."

One athlete he would like to emulate is Chinese sprinter Su Bingtian.

"Tyson Gay is my favourite sprinter but Su is my inspiration because he's Asian and the Asian record-holder.

"I have never met nor talked to him but I hope to be able to race against him before he retires ... who knows, perhaps at the National Games in November."

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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2025-05-17T03:21:37Z