Yeung and Yue seek a great leap forward

Two Hong Kong record holders, high jumper Cecilia Yeung Manwai and long jumper Tiffany Yue Ya-xin, hope to take a great leap forward at a training camp in Portugal next month.

The pair will join up with Rolf Ohman, a former assistant head coach of the Chinese national team who officially joins the Hong Kong Sports Institute as a fulltime coach in July. But Ohman will start coaching four months earlier to help prepare the team for the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September.

Anthony Giorgi, Hong Kong’s head athletics coach, believes Australian Ohman’s extensive knowledge will boost the team’s chances of success. “Hong Kong athletes will benefit from his enthusiasm and passion to get the best performance out of each individual,” Giorgi said.

Born in Sweden and raised in Brisbane, Ohman has a decathlete background and has worked in track and field since the 1980s.

Yue, who holds the Hong Kong women’s long jump record of 6.31 metres, lost her long-time coach Animo Chan four months ago. She said she needed guidance in the build-up to the Asian Games.

“After Animo left, my teammates and I felt lost and confused. The training seemed to be out of control,” the 23-year-old said. “The postponement or cancellation of many events due to Covid19 made me lose my goals.”

Yue trained with Chan for around nine years and broke the Hong Kong record eight times in 2019. She started working with Ohman online on Monday.

“Rolf’s programme focuses more on the technique of running up, with his long time study on strength and conditioning, I have a high expectation on him,” she said. Yue, who aims to compete at the World University Games in Chengdu from late June, wants to jump 6.5m before the Asian Games in September.

Yeung, recovered from a career-threatening Achilles tendon injury last year, also has high hopes for what she might achieve with her new coach.

“The new coach is very experienced with well over 35 years of elite coaching experience,” the 27-year-old said. “I know he is proficient in coaching all events from sprints to jumps to throws, and in the jumps, he has coached quite a lot of women high jumpers to clear 1.90m.”

At the National Games five years ago, Yeung was fifth with 1.84m, while Wang Yang from Liaoning, who was coached by Ohman, won with 1.90m. “I hope Ohman will give me a new direction on training, including training methods and periodisation,” Yeung said. She hopes to better her Hong Kong record of 1.88m, set at the Asia Grand Prix in Taiwan in 2017.