After a five-month absence, all eyes were on Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey as she glided into the women’s 200m freestyle event on day three of the National Games.
She finished the semifinal in 1 minute and 56.73 seconds, cruised into the final ranking number two to chase her first National Games medal opn Thursday (Nov 13).
The four-time Olympic medalist clocked 1 minute and 58.98 seconds in the preliminaries this morning, finishing first in her heat and qualifying with the third-fastest time overall.
Following a break due to a back injury, Haughey expressed satisfaction with her performance, stating that her primary goal was simply to advance and regain her competitive rhythm.
“I am hoping to swim faster tonight so I did not expend my full effort instead focusing on the details of my strokes,” she added.
In discussing her goals for the National Games, Haughey noted that she aims to perform her best and enjoy the race after a year of irregular training while adjusting her condition.
However, she confirmed that her previous injury has largely healed, which did not interrupt her training.
Contesting in four individual events—including the 50m breaststroke and the 50m, 100m, and 200m freestyle—she looked forward to seeing how she performs, particularly since she rarely competes in the 50m freestyle at major meets.
Notably, teammate Gilaine Ma also secured a spot in the semifinal with a time of two minutes and 0.78 seconds.
