Siobhan Haughey beaten in 200m freestyle by Canadian teen sensation – but seals Paris 2024 spot
- Hong Kong’s Haughey finishes behind 16-year-old Summer McIntosh but meets Olympic qualifying standard, having already done so in 400m
- She shows her versatility by breaking city record in 50m breaststroke, and could yet earn her third Paris berth in 50m freestyle
Haughey achieved her second Paris 2024 qualifying time despite finishing third, in what was a busy session for the 25-year-old late on Friday local time in Fort Lauderdale, in the second leg of this series. She competed in the finals of the 200m free and 50m breaststroke with only a 15-minute break in between.
In her now customary style in the 200m, Haughey was only fifth on reaction time in a line-up packed with Olympic medallists and event winners, but was very much in contention by the 50m mark, touching second, just behind Summer McIntosh of Canada.
She was chased and eventually overhauled by multiple Olympic medallist Katie Ledecky of the United States, the winner of the first leg of the Pro Swim, with the Hongkonger finishing third in a time of one minute 55.53 seconds.
That was 1.61 seconds slower than her best – set when winning one of her two silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 – but good enough to meet the “A” qualifying standard of 1:57.26 for the next Games in Paris.
Ahead of her, 16-year-old McIntosh surged ahead to break her own world junior record with 1:54.13, followed by Ledecky in 1:54.96.
“This meet is not our main goal, but Siobhan’s time today is quite good because this is a test of her previous training cycle over the last few weeks in Isreal,” Hong Kong head coach Chen Jianhong said. “So far, we are very pleased with her performance.”
Earlier on Friday, Haughey had eased through the preliminary round, finishing second in her heat and sixth fastest overall in a time of 1:59.70 to earn her berth in the A final.
After less than a quarter of an hour’s break, she was back in the water for the 50m breaststroke, in which she finished third in a new Hong Kong record time of 31.21 seconds, taking 0.4 seconds off Jamie Yeung Zhen-mei’s previous mark.
Having already collected a second place in the 400m free as well as Friday’s two third-place finishes, Haughey will swim in the 50m freestyle on the final day of the meet, with the possibility of earning her third Paris spot, even if that distance will not be her main focus in 2024.
“My main focus is always the 100 and 200m, but sometimes I swim other distances primarily for training, like the 400m free, which can really help my 200m,” Haughey explained at a Hong Kong swimming prize presentation in January.
Haughey was last year forced to withdraw from two major long-course events – the World Championships and the Mare Nostrum series – because of an ankle injury.
She returned to action in style in the three-leg short-course World Cup series in October, clinching seven gold medals and one bronze while remaining unbeaten in the 100m and 200m freestyle.
Her unbeaten record in the 200m continued at the short-course World Championships in Melbourne in December as she retained her title.
Haughey hopes best is yet to come in 2023 after ‘building year’
Also on Friday, Ng Yan-kin finished fourth in his heat of the 50m breaststroke in 28.62 seconds, earning a spot in the B final, in which he came sixth in 28.83.
Ian Ho Yentou was disqualified in his 50m butterfly heat, but coach Chen said it could amount to “good experience”.
“This is not his main event and he was disqualified when touching the wall, so experience-wise this is good for him, and a good warning not to repeat it in a big event in the future,” Chen said.
Ho, like Haughey, had the 50m freestyle still to come on Saturday.
