Siobhan Haughey, gold medallist Emma McKeon and bronze medallist Cate Campbell, both of Australia, at the 100m freestyle medal ceremony at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Photo: EPA
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https://scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3159201/siobhan-haughey-leads-hong-kongs-quest-historic-first-medal-world Hong Kong
Siobhan Haughey leads Hong Kong’s quest for historic first medal at World Championships in UAE short-course event
- Having won two Olympic silvers at the Tokyo Games last summer, Haughey is in medal-winning form after helping her team Energy Standard to ISL glory
- Hong Kong’s previous best at the Worlds was a fifth place by Kenneth To in 2018 Worlds, the year before he died from a heart attack
Siobhan Haughey in the 2021 International Swimming League in Naples. Photo: Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Double Olympic medallist Siobhan Haughey is hoping for another breakthrough performance for Hong Kong when she leads a 16-member squad for the short course World Championships in Abu Dhabi next week.
The city has never won a medal at the Worlds and Haughey, who collected two historic silver medals for Hong Kong at the Tokyo Olympics, has the speed and form to earn a podium place in Abu Dhabi based on her recent performances in the International Swimming League (ISL).
“We are quite confident although we do not want to predict the colour of the medal,” said Hong Kong Swimming Association honorary secretary David Chiu Chin-hung, who is delighted by the number of Hong Kong swimmers who have qualified for the Worlds.
“Our previous best result was a fifth place in the Worlds and Haughey stands a good chance to improve on that, especially in the 200 metres freestyle as most of her rivals have already been in the ISL.
“It will be also interesting to see if Haughey can break the world record for the event after coming so close in the ISL.”
Two weeks ago in Eindhoven, the Netherlands the 24-year-old clocked a personal best of one minute and 50.65 seconds to win the 200 metres freestyle for her team Energy Standard in their last play-off of the ISL season, which is also a short-course competition.
It was the second-fastest women’s time in history, just behind the world record 1:50.43 set by her Energy Standard teammate Sarah Sjostrom, of Sweden, in a World Cup series in the Netherlands in 2017.
Haughey’s consistency helped her win all of her three play-offs, including a 1:50.66 in the second leg – the world’s third best – before clinching gold in the final in 1:51.04.
Swimmer Siobhán Haughey waves to fans during parade for the Hong Kong’s Tokyo 2020 athletes. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Apart from the 200 metres freestyle, Haughey also captured gold in the 100 and 400 metres freestyle in 50.79 and 3:58.8 respectively in the ISL final.
Hong Kong’s previous best result in the short course Worlds was a fifth place by the late Kenneth To King-him in the men’s 100 metres medley at the 2018 event in Hangzhou. The Hong Kong-born, Australia-raised swimmer died the following year after suffering a heart attack during a training stint in Florida at the age of 26.
The 2021 Worlds was pushed back for one year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has thrown the world’s sporting calendar into disarray.
(From left) Hong Kong swimmers Kenneth To, Sze Hang-yu, Stephanie Au and Kent Cheung celebrate their silver in the 4x50m mixed freestyle relay at the 2017 FINA/airweave World Cup at Victoria Park. Photo: Chan Kin-wa
Haughey has already arrived in the United Arab Emirates for training with her club teammates after the ISL season ended in the Netherlands last week.
The rest of the Hong Kong team will be leaving for the Middle East city on Saturday night with the 16-member squad also including Tokyo Olympians Stephanie Au Hoi-shun, Tam Hoi-lam and men’s swimmer Ian Ho Yentou. The delegation will include a sports psychologist, nutritionist and massage therapist.