Getting Up to Speed

Cheung Pakhung, one of the world’s fastest rope skippers and a world champion, wants to get the city on its feet doing the sport he loves

-  Zabrina Lo.

Sat on the ground, legs straight in front of him, Cheung Pak-hung flicks a rope behind his head, jumps to his feet, flips the rope under one ankle before throwing himself into a handstand, showing off some hip-hop moves, and whipping the rope over his head again. These are not your playground skipping games.

In November, Cheung, the founder of Hong Kong Institute of Rope Skipping, took part in Instagram’s Creator Week, an invite-only professional development programme for content creators. While in person, the 28-year-old is quiet, with a shy smile, put a rope in his hand and he immediately comes out of his shell and transforms into a charismatic, energetic athlete. It’s little wonder he has 116,000 followers on his personal Instagram.

But he’s not just an influencer with electrifying tricks up his sleeves. In 2021, Cheung won the Virtual World Championship hosted by the International Jump Rope Union. He came first in the male single rope individual freestyle category by finishing level-eight tricks—turning the rope five times, at least twice with his arms crossed at the back, in a single jump— within 75 seconds, defeating contenders from around the world. He also broke the world record in speed relays in 2014 and 2015.