National Games: Ian Ho gold is first for Hong Kong’s men, as Haughey reaches 2 more finals
Siobhan Haughey will have to swim two races in five minutes on Monday after reaching finals of 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle
For once on Sunday, Siobhan Haughey was not the main focus of Hong Kong’s success in the swimming pool – Ian Ho Yentou grabbed that spotlight and shone it firmly on himself.
The 28-year-old produced a scintillating performance to take National Games gold in the men’s 50 metres freestyle in Shenzhen, setting a city record and consigning China’s Olympic star Pan Zhanle to the role of also-ran.
Ho’s time of 21.71 seconds bettered the 21.83 he produced at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore this summer, which he afterwards said had been “my most satisfying moment”.
That helped to fuel what followed several months later at the Shenzhen Universiade Centre Swimming Pool, a result he said on Sunday had “given me even more motivation to continue.”
Chen Hao, of Liaoning, came home in 22.17 to win silver. There were two bronze medallists, with Fujian’s Liu Wudi and Zhejiang’s Pan finishing in a dead heat at 22.21.
“That was as close to a good race as I could have made,” Ho said. “I think a lot of times I struggle with the dive and the underwater, and so I just put a lot of effort this entire training cycle to make sure that I can be as close to consistent as possible every time.