Siobhan Haughey shatters another Hong Kong record in her last race of Mediterranean series
- The 21-year-old opts out of 100m freestyle she won in previous leg in Monaco but breaks a 12-year-old Hong Kong record
- She flies back to the United States while the rest of Hong Kong swimmers continue to Barcelona
In her last race of the series before flying back to the United States, where she is now based, Haughey opted out of the 100m freestyle, in which she won the gold in the Monaco leg of the series, but instead entered the 400m freestyle.
She finished sixth in four minutes and 13.21 seconds in the morning heats before improving her time to 4:11.90 for fifth position in the final. Kesely Ajna of Hungary won the gold in 4:06.55.
Both of Haughey’s times bettered the record previously held by Stephanie Au Hoi-shun when she registered 4:13.81 in Hong Kong some 12 years ago.
In the 100m backstroke in Canet, Au reached the final but only managed seventh place in a time of 1:02.42. She captured a bronze medal in Monaco where she clocked 1:00.91.
Au is still working hard to reach the 2020 Olympics qualifying standard of the event, which is set at 1:00.25. She clocked 1:00.38 at the Asian Games in Indonesia last year.
After Canet, all Hong Kong swimmers, except Haughey, will continue on to the next and final leg in Barcelona as part of their preparation for the World Championships which take place in Gwangju, South Korea next month.
Head coach Chen Jianhong wants his young charges to get more international exposure during the three-leg Mediterranean Sea tour.
