HAUGHEY SHOWS HER CLASS WITH NEW MARK
Hong Kong’s Tokyo medal hope breaks her own national record in women’s 50m freestyle, while Ian Ho also impresses in men’s event in Fo Tan
Hong Kong’s Tokyo 2022 Olympic Games swimming medal hopes were given a boost after stars Siobhan Haughey and Ian Ho Yentou broke the national 50m freestyle records at the Hong Kong Long Course Swimming Time Trial III yesterday.
The trials tripled up as qualifiers for the Games, the Fina World Swimming Championships (25m) in Abu Dhabi, UAE in December and the Fina World Championships 2022 in Fukuoka, Japan. The 23-year-old Haughey, who shattered her own 200m freestyle record at the previous Olympic trial in the Hong Kong Sports Institute last month, once again broke her own 50m freestyle record, clocking a time of 24.59 – achieving Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) A.
Haughey’s previous 50m freestyle best was the 24.83 finish at Time Trial II last month, meaning she has broken the Hong Kong record twice in three weeks. She had reached OQT qualifying times in the 100m and 200m freestyle in the trials in 2019.
The 23-year-old Ho broke the men’s 50m free record – which he likewise set last month at 22.34 – with a much improved time of 22.09, narrowly missing out on the A category qualifying by 0.8 seconds but easing into the Olympic Selection Time (OST) B cutoff. Both Haughey and Ho also easily met the 50m freestyle A qualifying threshold for the 2022 world championships.
Haughey remarkably broke her own women’s 400m freestyle record in the afternoon with a time of 4:10.87. This means she also qualified for the OST entry.
She had set a previous national record of 4:11.90 set at Time Trial II. Haughey recently was confirmed as one of the 500 swimmers who signed up for the new draft for the International Swimming League’s 2021 season.
Haughey was one of the top MVP scorers last season, which was held in a bubble in Budapest, Hungary.
She starred for Energy Standard in the ISL’s second season, having moved from the DC Trident, as they finished runners-up to the Cali Condors in the grand final.
Haughey was one of the biggest names confirmed for the new draft system, alongside the top three MVP scorers Caeleb Dressel, Lilly King and Beryl Gastaldello.
The Olympic time trials were organised for behind closed doors at the Sports Institute in Fo Tan due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The annual Festival of Sports Long Course Time Trial in April was part of the local qualifying events for Hong Kong swimmers hoping to reach the Olympics benchmark.
Limited officials and no spectators or media were allowed into the premises as local swimming slowly returns after more than a year in isolation and bubbles. As of the last trials, Hong Kong had 10 Olympic qualified swimmers ahead of the Games, subject to Fina approval.