World Aquatics Championships: Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey happy with ‘nice collection’ of medals after 100m silver
- Haughey denied a second gold medal of the championships, two days after her historic victory in her other favoured event, the 200m freestyle
- Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands wins in eighth-fastest time ever, while Chinese teen Dong Zhihao makes stunning comeback to win men’s 200m breaststroke
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey said it was “great to go home with some hardware” after completing a hat-trick of medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha.
The 26-year-old took silver in the 100 metres freestyle in the early hours of Saturday, Hong Kong time, leading at halfway before falling agonisingly short of a second gold of the competition.
It was the second year in a row Haughey had been kept off the top of the podium in the 100m. Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan denied her last time, and here it was Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands, who required the eighth fastest time in history to do so.
Haughey’s week in Qatar has nonetheless yielded a gold, a silver and a bronze.
“I didn’t think I was going for all three colours, but I guess now I have them and it’s a nice collection,” Haughey said afterwards. “It’s definitely great to go home with some hardware.”
Haughey again led from the front at the Aspire Dome in what has become her trademark style. She turned first, with Steenbergen back in fourth, before being overhauled by the late surge of her rival, who won in 52.26 seconds with Haughey 0.3 seconds behind. Shayna Jack of Australia came third, clocking 52.83.
“My strength is typically in the first half of the race,” Haughey said. “I died a little at the end, but that’s OK. That’s how I swim the 100.”
“The back half is my speciality,” Steenbergen said. “Today I did not really feel the pressure. I was just trying to have fun and I tried to enjoy the race. When I do that, I can swim really fast.”
The Dutchwoman improved on her showing at last year’s worlds in Fukuoka, when she was third behind Haughey, to emerge as a contender for this year’s Paris Olympics.
Steenbergen emulated Haughey by becoming an individual long-course world champion for the first time, although it was her second gold of the week after helping the Netherlands to victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
O’Callaghan, who is not competing here, will inevitably contend for the Paris podium, too, along with Haughey.
Asked whether she could learn from Doha as she prepares for those Games, the Hongkonger replied: “We have a few more months, so hopefully we can fine-tune things and be ready.”
China won two more golds, one coming in the men’s 200m breaststroke courtesy of 18-year-old Dong Zhihao, who outdid Steenbergen’s comeback to notch his first world title.
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Dong was sixth as he entered the closing 50m, with Caspar Corbeau on course for another Dutch triumph until the final 15m, when he ran out of puff to finish 0.3 seconds behind Dong’s two minutes, 7.94 seconds, a personal best.
“You might as well fly and die and put it all on the line,” Corbeau said. “Those last 20 metres were real bad.”
It was a similar story in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, in which China trailed the United States by a distance until 16-year-old Zhang Zhanshuo’s anchor leg snatched victory.
That took China to six swimming golds, tied with the US, with the Chinese comfortably top of the overall aquatics medal table after dominating the diving and artistic swimming.
Haughey’s teammates and fellow Olympic qualifiers Ian Ho Yentou and Cindy Cheung Sum-yuet bowed out in their semi-finals. Ho came sixth in his 50m freestyle race to place 11th overall, after a personal best in his heat, and Cheung finished eighth in her 200m backstroke semi.
Ho, Lau Shiu-yue, Camille Cheng Lily-mei and Tam Hoi-lam qualified eighth-fastest for the overnight final of the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, but Tam went out in the heats of the women’s 50m freestyle, as did Lau in the men’s 50m backstroke.
Additional reporting by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
