Canoeist Lai Kuan-chieh, gymnast Ting Hua-tien qualify for Paris Olympics

Canoeist Lai Kuan-chieh, gymnast Ting Hua-tien qualify for Paris Olympics

2024-04-22

Two more Taiwanese athletes have qualified for the Paris Olympics. One is gymnast Ting Hua-tien, who’s secured her spot in the balance beam event. The other is canoeist Lai Kuan-chieh, who qualified after winning a silver at the 2024 Asian Canoe Sprint Championships.

Asian Games gold medalist Lai Kuan-chieh advances steadily in Lane 5. Though he was in the middle of the pack at the start, the moment of truth came in the final stage.

In the last 200 meters, Lai unleashed explosive might to make his way to second place, closely trailing the Iranian rower next to him. Also rushing to the front was China in Lane 8, making for a nail-biter finish.

By a margin of less than 0.3 seconds, Lai clinched his ticket to Paris, and won silver in the men’s C-1 1,000 meter canoe sprint final.

Over at the Doha World Cup, Taiwanese gymnast Ting Hua-tien booked her Paris berth on the balance beam, despite failing to reach the final round. A Spanish competitor who outranked her had qualified for the Olympics floor exercise event, leaving her balance beam spot vacant for Ting. Paris will be Ting’s second Olympic Games in a row.

Also at the competition was Tang Chia-hung, who qualified for Paris at a previous stop of the Gymnastics World Cup Series. That didn’t stop him from bagging a third gold medal in the horizontal bar event in Doha. After a short break, Tang plans to return to training, to create a harder routine that’s set to score high in Paris.

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