Hong Kong’s Haughey sets new mark in 50m freestyle, McKeown becomes first woman to hold every backstroke world record
- Australia’s Kaylee McKeown claims 50m title during World Cup leg in Budapest
- Siobhan Haughey lowers personal best time while claiming silver in sprint race won by Sarah Sjostrom
Australian Kaylee McKeown said she was “super stoked” after becoming the first woman to hold world records in all three backstroke disciplines by smashing the 50m mark.
The 22-year-old clocked 26.86 seconds at the World Cup in Budapest on Friday to better the previous best of 26.98 set by China’s Liu Xiang in 2018.
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, meanwhile, continued her pace-setting trend, lowering her personal best on the way to silver in the 50m freestyle in a time of 24.30 seconds.
The 25-year-old’s time was quicker than the city record 20.34 she swan to claim silver at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last month.
As for China, the nation’s top male and female swimmers, Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei, left Berlin, Athens and Budapest as champions in the men’s 100m breaststroke and women’s 200m butterfly respectively. Both received a bonus prize of US$10,000 as well as ‘triple crown’ status.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom took gold in 23.97, the only woman to have dipped below 24 this year. Australia’s Bronte Campbell claimed bronze in 24.42.
