Hong Kong’s Haughey cruises into 100m final, coach ‘really excited’ for what comes next
Coach Tom Rushton has been pushing Siobhan Haughey for the past several years, says 200m freestyle gold was ‘one of her best swims’ ever
Siobhan Haughey may not yet be back to her best, but 24 hours after claiming her first National Games gold she breezed past her opponents in the semi-finals of the 100 metres freestyle and has her hands firmly on a second.
The Hongkonger was comfortably quickest in Friday’s race, touching the wall in 53.46 seconds, the only one of the 16 semi-finalists to go below the 54 mark.
Still somewhat short of her Asian record 52.02, it was more than good enough at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre, where her nearest rival, Yang Wenwen, could only manage 54.23.
“I hope I can achieve a good time [in the final],” Haughey said. “How fast or slow, I don’t know, but we’ll find out tomorrow.
“I know I’m not at my peak, but so far the results have been good. I feel my recovery after the past two days of competition has been good.”
There seems little doubt Haughey will add the 100m title to the 200m one she claimed on Thursday, a performance that coach Tom Rushton described as one of the 28-year-old’s “best swims”.