‘It was four swimmers chasing three medals’: Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey reflects on narrow miss at world championships
- The 21-year-old Hong Kong native was just shy of a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle by two-tenths of a second
- Haughey will now get set for the ISL and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Two-tenths of a second doesn’t sound like a lot, but in the world of competitive swimming every millisecond counts.
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey finished fourth in her marquee event, the 200 metre freestyle, at the Fina world championships, which wrapped up on Sunday in Gwangju, South Korea. Haughey clocked one minute, 54.98 seconds, narrowly missing out on the bronze medal. She had already qualified in the event for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo earlier this year.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem finished third in 1:54.78, while Federica Pellegrini won (1:54.22) and Australia’s Ariarne Titmus came second (1:54.66).
“I knew the 200 free would be a very tough race,” said the 21-year-old Haughey. “I was kind of expecting to make the finals, and I did, and going into the finals I knew it was four swimmers chasing three medals.”
The top four swimmers all finished within one second of each other and Haughey set a personal best by more than a second.
Haughey also competed in the 4x100m freestyle, the 4x100m medley (in which Hong Kong qualified for Tokyo 2020) and the 100m freestyle. She will also compete in the 100m freestyle in Tokyo, but her medal hopes run through the 200m.
Former coach Michael Fasching, the performance director and head coach at Harry Wright International, a well-known swimming club in Hong Kong, said Haughey may only compete in the 100m and 200m at the Olympics and that her performance in South Korea was definitely a step in the right direction.
Fasching noted Haughey’s time was 0.13 seconds shy of the Asian record, held by Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee.
“I thought it was an incredible, inspiring race and progression from her semi-finals the previous day and unfortunately just 0.2 seconds off a podium rank.”
Five-time Olympic gold medallist Katie Ledecky was forced to pull out of the 200m freestyle because of illness, but has qualified for the event for Tokyo 2020. Haughey said her fourth place puts her in pretty elite company.
“I feel very happy and honoured to be racing with the best 200 freestylers in the world and to be considered as one of the swimmers who might have a chance of medalling. I think that’s really amazing.”
She said grabbing a bronze would have been awesome, but she still feels good overall about her performance. Haughey had consistent splits through each 50m turn (26.82, 29.46, 29.28 and 29.42), ending 0.76 of a second behind Pellegrini.
“Execution-wise, I think what I did in my 200 metre freestyle is pretty much what I had planned on doing. I didn’t go out too fast or too slow and then I knew I had to start building up on the third 50.
“I knew the last 10 to 15 metres of the race would be very close and that’s where everyone starts speeding up. That’s something I can work on because when I looked at my video that’s where I started to fall off a bit. I still have one year to go before Tokyo and I definitely think there are a few things I can work on.”
Haughey, who grew up in Happy Valley, will now get ready for the inaugural season of the International Swimming League, where she will compete for DC Trident this autumn alongside Ledecky.
