Hong Kong swimming star Siobhan Haughey ‘will miss teammates’ but not disappointed by loss of ISL season
- The International Swimming League cites war in Ukraine as reason for postponing fourth season until 2023
- Haughey says decision will not affect her too much, with focus on Fina World Championships in July and Asian Games in September
Hong Kong’s double Olympic silver medallist Siobhan Haughey said she would miss her teammates, but was not disappointed by the International Swimming League’s decision to delay this season over the war in Ukraine.
The ISL, which is backed by Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, said on Monday it planned to postpone its fourth year of competition, which was expected to start in June in North America and finish in October, to 2023.
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Hong Kong Olympian Siobhan Haughey breaks world swimming record in 200m freestyle
“I’m not disappointed and it does not really affect the first half of my year,” said the 24-year-old, who has been training at the Hong Kong Sports Institute ahead of the Fina World Championships in Budapest in July.
“Without ISL, I’ll be competing in less competitions in the second half of the year but I’m sure I can still find other competitions to go to.
“I always enjoyed ISL but I understand why they had to cancel it this year. I’ll miss my teammates but I’m sure I’ll see them at other competitions.”
Chen Jianhong, the head coach of Hong Kong’s swimming team, said they would have to readjust their plans for the year, with the Asian Games in September among the major competitions.
“We will have to work out some adjustments of our plan,” Chen said. “Both the World Championships and the Asian Games are important events and we need to prepare a good training plan to help our swimmers achieve results.”
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The ISL, which launched in 2019, features many of the world’s best swimmers who compete for 10 teams in a short course pool of 25 metres. In announcing the postponement, the ISL said the decision had been made as the war seemed “poised to continue for the foreseeable future”.
“In light of this force majeure situation, we cannot, in good faith to our swimmers and our fans, commit to hosting any commercial matches in 2022,” it said.
“As such, we have made the difficult decision to postpone season four to 2023.”
Haughey had a great 2021, aside from her Olympic success, she helped her French team to the overall ISL title the finals in Eindhoven, and finished it off with a dominant performance at the short course Fina World Championships in Doha in December.
She was undefeated in the ISL 200m freestyle event throughout the season, and set a new Asian record in the 100m free. Additionally, she was named the MVP on three match days and finished second in the overall MVP standings, 43.5 points behind her Energy Standard teammate Sarah Sjostrom.
Energy Standard’s roster in 2021 featured also two Ukrainian swimmers and four Russians.
On Wednesday, Fina, the sport’s world governing body, banned Russian and Belarusian swimmers from competing at the Budapest World Championships because of the war.
That represented a U-turn from its original decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete at the event, but as “neutral athletes’’ without national symbols.
