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Hong Kong’s star swimmer Siobhan Haughey has withdrawn from the women’s 100-meter freestyle final at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Baku, citing severe arm pain and nerve discomfort.
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The 28-year-old made the announcement on social media, revealing that she felt sharp pain in her arms and nerve sensations in her fingers during warm-up ahead of the final on Saturday. Noting that it would be unsafe to compete through the symptoms, she said she chose to focus on her recovery and decided not to race in the final.
“My priority now is to recover and get back to racing as soon as possible. Things haven’t been ideal, but I’m doing my best to find the good in every situation,” she wrote.
Her withdrawal comes after an impressive run at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, where Haughey won two gold and two silver medals despite battling illness and injuries ahead of the competition.
Prior to stepping aside in Baku, Haughey continued her strong form by setting a new short-course Asian record in the 50-meter freestyle, taking silver in 23.48 seconds. She also won gold in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:51.08. Haughey qualified for the 100-meter freestyle final by finishing first in her heat in 52.49 seconds before pulling out.
The Baku leg is the first of three stops in the World Cup series, followed by events in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Astana, Kazakhstan. The races also serve as qualifying events for the World Aquatics Swimming Championships in December.
