程小雅

English

Ching Siu Nga, Jessica, is a Hong Kong race walker born in 1987 who specialises in the 20km and 35km events and was the first Hong Kong representative to compete in Olympic race walking. She moved into race walking from distance running and built her reputation on endurance and technique. Race walking requires one foot to be on the ground at all times and the supporting leg to be straight, with technical faults punished by red cards, making it extremely demanding in fitness and concentration. At the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games she finished sixth in the women's 20km walk in 1:39:51, and the same year broke the Hong Kong 20km record at the Hong Kong Road Walking Championships. Her Hong Kong record stands at 1:32:30 for 20km, set in Kobe, Japan. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games she represented Hong Kong in the women's 20km walk, finishing 35th in 1:37:53 to become the first Hong Kong athlete to compete in Olympic race walking. In 2024 she raced the women's 20km walk again at the Paris Olympics, still competing at the Games at the age of 37, and she also took part in the 20km walk at the Hangzhou Asian Games and partnered Chin Man Kit in the 35km mixed race-walk relay. Injury has always been a challenge: she struggled with a torn gluteal muscle after the Asian Games. To extend her career she planned to move up to the 35km distance and the mixed race-walk marathon, teaming up with Chin Man Kit. For 2024/25 she was included in the Hong Kong Sports Institute's elite training funding scheme.