Swimming World Championships: Siobhan Haughey’s Australian rival Mollie O’Callaghan has knee scare

‘I think it’s just a tweak, a bit of a scare and just needs to be managed,’ coach says after O’Callaghan hurts knee in training ahead of showdown

Hong Kong’s Haughey is aiming for her first global long-course gold in July’s championships in Fukuoka, having withdrawn injured on eve of previous edition

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Mollie O’Callaghan, before her injury, wins the 200m freestyle at the Australian World Championship Trials this month. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:51pm, 28 Jun 2023Updated: 3:05pm, 28 Jun 2023

The biggest obstacle for Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey at swimming’s World Championships next month, Mollie O’Callaghan of Australia, has suffered a knee injury in training just weeks before the showpiece in Japan.

Haughey is targeting her first long-course world titles in her favoured 100 and 200 metres freestyle, and recorded the year’s world-leading time in the 100m during last month’s Mare Nostrum Tour in Europe.

O’Callaghan has since bettered Haughey’s 100m time and also holds the fastest time of the year over 200m in the Olympic-standard 50m pool, as she prepares to defend the 100m crown she won in Budapest last year.

However, Australia coach Rohan Taylor has revealed that O’Callaghan, 19, “tweaked” a kneecap while stretching and is on a modified training programme designed to ensure she makes it to the championships, which begin on July 23.

Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey won twice at last weekend’s Sette Colli event in Rome. Photo: AP

In Budapest, it was Haughey, then the favourite, who was carrying an injury, having hurt an ankle when she slipped on the poolside during training a month earlier. Despite assurances that she was recovering well, it caused her to withdraw at the eleventh hour – an outcome the Australian camp are working to avoid in Fukuoka.