ISL: Swimmer Siobhan Haughey given green light to compete in Europe amid pandemic spike

Hong Kong Sports Institute happy with medical protocol provided by swimming league organisers to guarantee participants’ safety

Next month’s ISL second season features over 300 swimmers in Budapest with grand final slated for Tokyo before Christmas

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Siobhan Haughey is to race in her first major competition of the year at the ISL in Budapest next month. Here, she competes at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Photo: AP

Published: 4:59pm, 29 Sep 2020Updated: 10:28pm, 29 Sep 2020

Hong Kong swim star Siobhan Haughey has been given the green light to compete in next month’s International Swimming League (ISL) 2020 season in Hungary amid a pandemic spike in Europe.

The 22-year-old, who has returned to Hong Kong due to the coronavirus outbreak, said she would be leaving for Budapest in two weeks to join the France-based outfit Energy Standard, which won the inaugural championship last year.

The reigning champions bolstered their line-up with some world-class swimmers in the close season, recruiting stars such as Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, the MVP of the inaugural 2019 season, Chad le Clos of South Africa and Frenchman Florent Manaudou.

Haughey, who swam for DC Trident of Washington last season, is eager to get back to the pool after the interruption brought by the pandemic. She was forced to stop training before returning to Hong Kong.

Siobhan Haughey (centre) and her teammates, Camille Cheng (left) and Tam Hoi-lam at the 2019 Hong Kong Open Championships at Victoria Park Swimming Pool. Photo: Edward Wong

“ISL was a lot of fun last year and I haven’t raced in a few months now so I’m really looking forward to racing and swimming fast again,” said Hong Kong’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic hopeful. “ISL is different because you have to race many events in a short period of time. Since this is my second year, I kind of know what to expect and how to prepare for the races. I wasn’t able to train for around two months because of Covid-19 and I had to come back to Hong Kong.