I’ll get there in the end, says Stephanie Au as she closes in on Olympic qualifying mark
- The elegant Hong Kong swimmer equals her 2019 best time in winning the women’s 100m backstroke
- She hopes to compete in several events at the Games, which will be her fourth Olympics since Beijing 2008
Stephanie Au Hoi-shun is moving closer to reaching the Olympic A qualifying standard after setting a season’s best in the women’s 100 metres backstroke at the Hong Kong Open championships on Sunday.
The home favourite won her pet event in one minute and 0.81 seconds, equalling her 2019 best time set at the Tour of Mediterranean Sea in June. Promising Wong Kwan-to was a distant second almost two seconds behind in 1:02.82 at the Hong Kong Sports Institute in Fo Tan.
Au’s time came close to the Tokyo Games qualifying mark of 1:00.25 but the part-time model won’t celebrate until she has achieved her aim.
“It is close but it’s still not the standard [time],” said Au, who was a member of the 4x200 metre freestyle relay team at the world championships in Gwangju last month.
“Sometimes you need all the right elements coming together and a little bit of luck to make it happen. But I am so happy to have achieved this result in a Hong Kong event as it’s more difficult racing in front of a home crowd. It gives me more inspiration to work harder and there is almost a year to go before the qualifiers end.”