Siobhan Haughey fires warning to Asian Games rivals by shattering her own Hong Kong record
- The 25-year-old will take part in four individual events in Hangzhou as the city looks for its first Asian Games swimming gold medal
- ‘I’m just focusing on my own swimming,’ Haughey says after 50-metre freestyle victory at Hong Kong Open in Victoria Park on Saturday
Siobhan Haughey has fired a warning to her rivals she is ready to win Hong Kong’s first Asian Games swimming gold medal in Hangzhou next month, after smashing her own 50-metre freestyle record in Victoria Park on Saturday.
Nine years on from her last appearance at the regional Games, as a 16-year-old student in Incheon, the Tokyo Olympics double silver medallist looks unlikely to be beaten by any of her Asian competition in her two favoured events.
Haughey won silver and finished fourth, respectively, in the 100-metre and 200-metre freestyle at the World Championships in Fukuoka two weeks ago.
She will take part in four individual events in Hangzhou – the freestyle from 50 metres to 200 metres, and the 50-metre breaststroke – plus the relays. But the 25-year-old and the city’s swimming officials did not want to give a specific number when it comes to how many gold medals she is targeting.
“I’m trying not to think too much about it. I am just focusing on my own swimming,” Haughey said after posting a time of 24.44 seconds at the Hong Kong Open at Victoria Park Swimming Pool – her last event before departing for Hangzhou. Haughey set the previous Hong Kong 50-metre free record of 24.56 in May. The Asian record is 23.97.
“I have been back from Japan for two weeks and so far I’ve had really good training. If I can keep up the same preparation, I’m sure I can do well in Hangzhou.
“Both the 100-metre and 200-metre free are definitely my favourite events but you can never know who will suddenly swim really fast, or predict how other people will do. I am focusing on myself and seeing what I can do.”
Haughey takes silver in 100 metres freestyle final at World Championships
At the 2014 Incheon Games, a day after anchoring Hong Kong to a bronze medal in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay, Haughey returned to the pool in the hope that she could win on her own, but narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in the 100-metre freestyle final.
“It has been a long time since 2014 and in fact I forgot about most of my preparations and even the Games itself,” Haughey said. “But since then, I have been to many major events and hopefully I will not have too much pressure in Hangzhou like when I first started.”
Hong Kong has only captured two individual swimming medals since making its debut at the 1954 Asian Games, through Robyn Lamsam in 1994 and Mark Kwok Kin-ming in 1998. Haughey missed the Jakarta Games because of a foot injury.
She is favoured to make a mark in Hangzhou, but head coach Chen Jianhong – a former member of the China national team – warned that the hosts could spring a surprise.
“You cannot underestimate [China] as they can always achieve super performance with the home ground advantage, and the support of the fans,” Chen said.
“We have to prepare for difficult times when competing in China, although Haughey does have advantages in the 100-metre and 200-metre freestyle.
“Our target is to win medals and get a better result than what we did in Jakarta, but we have not set any gold medal target.
“Other than Haughey, Ian Ho Yentou in the men’s 50-metre freestyle, and Cheung Sum-yuet in the women’s 200-metre backstroke also have medal chances as they are very close in their events against fellow Asian swimmers.”
Hong Kong swimmers returned with one silver and two bronze medals from Jakarta, all from the women’s relays amid Haughey’s absence.
