HURDLER CHLOE PAK BREAKS 34-YEAR-OLD HONG KONG JUNIOR RECORD AT ASIAN U20 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 17-year-old student clocks 13.91 seconds in girls' 100-metre hurdles, shattering Chan Sau-ying's old mark
Hong Kong win two silver medals and one bronze at regional junior event in Yecheon, South Korea

Hurdler Chloe Pak Hoi-man broke a 34-year-old Hong Kong junior record as the city wrapped up the Asian Junior Athletics Championships with two silver medals and one bronze in Yecheon, South Korea on Wednesday.

The 17-year-old clocked a time of 13.91 seconds in the final of the girls' 100-metre hurdles, shattering Chan Sau-yin's old record of 13.93 - set in 1989 - by 0.02s.

Chan went on to become Hong Kong's senior record holder, and her mark of 13.14s set in the United States five years later still stands.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Miki Hayashi of Japan won Wednesday's race in 13.64s, with Kristina Yermola of Kazakhstan finishing third in 14.57s.

"The result did not surprise me as we have prepared for this race for a long time," coach Tang Hon-sing said.

"After she claimed a silver medal at the Asian U-18 Championships in April, we set our sights on it. Also, fortunately, her school allowed her to postpone her exams so that she did not have to worry about studies and could focus on training.

"We sent her to the Taiwan Open two weeks ago to compete against senior athletes and she finished in 14.01, and today she was 0.1 faster. She is improving a lot."

While praising Diocesan Girls' School fifth form student Pak's running form, Tang said his charge could make further progress by improving her ability to cross hurdles.

"She can control a hurdle race well by running a very smooth pace but if she can also improve her skills, she can do much better," Tang said. "But she is only 17 and there is plenty of room for further development."

Hong Kong's second silver medal came in the boys' long jump as Lin Mingfu leapt 7.49m. Despite the positive result, Lin still fell short of his pre-race target of 8m.

The 19-year-old is third in the race to be picked for the Asian Games, behind Ko Ho-long and Chan Ming-tai. Both have passed 8m and occupy the two spots for Hangzhou, with Lin coming closest to their mark at the Hong Kong Championships in April when he jumped 7.83m.

Hong Kong's other medal in Yecheon came through Liu Hiu-long, who finished third in the boys' 110m hurdles with a time of 13.73s.