Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey underlines Olympic gold potential with dominant 100m free win in France
- City’s swim star lays down second best time of the season to beat reigning world champion Marrit Steenbergen
- Mare Nostrum Swim Tour now heads to Barcelona, with Haughey in action again on Wednesday
Siobhan Haughey underlined her status as an Olympic gold medal favourite with another dominant win in the pool on Sunday.
The Hongkonger swept aside her opposition in the 100m freestyle on the final day of the Mare Nostrum Swim Tour event in France, touching the wall in a time of 52.55 seconds.
Haughey finished a full second ahead of Marrit Steenbergen, who came out on top when the pair raced in the same event at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February.
France’s Beryl Gastaldello, who took gold in the 50m freestyle the day before, finished in third with a time of 53.89, slower than the 53.77 she posted to be fastest in the heats.
Victory was Haughey’s third in three races in Canet-en-Roussillon, having won the 100m breaststroke and 200m freestyle events 24 hours earlier. Her time on Sunday was her second best of the season, after the Hong Kong record 52.02 she posted during a World Cup series meet in Berlin.
With three events across three countries in nine days there is little time for recovery, and Haughey will be racing in the 100m in freestyle and breaststroke again on Wednesday in Barcelona, with her first race scheduled for 11.25pm Hong Kong time.
The three-part annual Mediterranean meet then wraps up in Monaco on Saturday and Sunday.
Separately in France, Adam Chillingworth finished seventh in the 200m breaststroke final in 2:15.06, more than five seconds off the Olympic qualifying time.
Japan’s Ippei Watanabe, a former world-record holder in the event, won with a time of 2:07.62. His countryman Yu Hanaguruma was second in 2:08.40, with France’s Antoine Marc third in 2:10.92.
Hong Kong’s Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung, who won bronze with Haughey at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in the 4x100m medley and freestyle relays, was also in action.
Kan was the eighth seed in the 50m butterfly and stayed there throughout, finishing in 27.09 in a race Sweden’s Sara Junevik won in 25.74.
