Paris Olympics countdown: Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey switches race to keep Mother’s Day free and smashes record
- Weeks before Olympics, she breaks 800 metres freestyle record in her very first crack at the distance, chosen to avoid diary clash
- ‘It’s Mother’s Day and … I want to go for dinner with my mum,’ Haughey says
Siobhan Haughey went the extra mile for her mum on Mother’s Day as she returned to the pool in Hong Kong, and ended up smashing a city record in a race she had never swum before.
The 200 metres freestyle world champion is weeks away from leading Hong Kong’s quest for Olympic glory in Paris, but she stepped up in distance at the local trials for the Games, with her mum in mind.
Haughey on Saturday entered her first 800m freestyle in an Olympic-length (“long-course”) 50m pool, and proceeded to swim it in eight minutes, 39.93 seconds. Her time at Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) in Fo Tan knocked almost two seconds off the previous city mark of 8:41.66, set by Stephanie Au Hoi-shun.
“This is actually my first time doing the 800 freestyle long course,” Haughey said afterwards. “So I didn’t know how to swim it and my training is very middle-distance-based.”
However, choosing the 800m over Sunday’s more familiar 400m freestyle had an important benefit away from swimming.
“I’m not really prepared for [the 800m]. I originally wanted to do the 400 freestyle,” she said. “But it’s Mother’s Day and … I want to go for dinner with my mum.”
Haughey arrived already qualified for Paris, with spots in her favoured disciplines, the 100m and 200m freestyle, as well as in the 50m and 400m freestyle and the 100m breaststroke.
She is also expected to be part of the Hong Kong teams in the 4x100m freestyle and medley relay events.
“[Having qualified] it’s just a training meet for me, so I wasn’t expecting too much,” Haughey said. “But I’m pretty happy with it, I guess.”
A double silver medallist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, Haughey was not the only Olympian in the water at HKSI for the Long Course Swimming Invitational Trial.
The 26-year-old was joined by Au and Tam Hoi-lam, while also in action was Cindy Cheung Sum-yuet, the only Hong Kong woman besides Haughey to have an individual spot in Paris ensured before Saturday.
“I’d say the Hong Kong swim team … have a really good relationship and we know that everyone’s working towards something,” Haughey said. “Some people might be qualifying for Paris, some people might be qualifying for other meets.
“It’s fun seeing them race here and it’s actually fun racing here and seeing my teammates.”
Au won her 50m backstroke heat in 28.48 seconds, half a second outside her Hong Kong record. She pulled out of the final, with the race not being an Olympic qualifying event.
Seventeen-year-old Cheung finished second in her heat in the same race in 29.69, trailing Ng Cheuk-yan, also 17, by 0.28 seconds. Cheung finished second again in the final, 0.47 seconds behind Ng’s 29.38.
Weeks after claiming the Hong Kong record for the 200m breaststroke, Adam Chillingworth had to settle for second at HKSI to Adam Mak Sai-ting – the man whose mark he improved.
Mak won in two minutes, 13.01 seconds with Chillingworth half a second back. To reach Paris, each must shave a further 1.5 seconds off the new record time of 2:11.16 that Chillingworth clocked last month at the Pro Swim Series in Texas.
On Sunday, Tam, along with a 2016 Olympian in Camille Cheng Lily-mei, will compete in the 100m freestyle. Cheung and Au are likely to meet in the final of the 100m backstroke, which will be an Olympic qualifying event.
