Olympics 2024: Siobhan Haughey swims second-fastest 200 metres freestyle of year to boost gold prospects in Paris
- Hongkonger wins in Texas, beating US’ Katie Ledecky and posting time bettered this year only by Summer McIntosh of Canada
- She also won the 100m freestyle, beating Kate Douglass of the US in her other favoured event
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey swam the world’s second-fastest 200 metres freestyle time this year in Texas on Saturday to underline her status among the favourites for Olympic gold in Paris.
Haughey stormed to victory at the Pro Swim Series in San Antonio, leading the race throughout to clock one minute, 54.52 seconds and finishing ahead of Katie Ledecky of the United States, the Olympic champion over the distance in Rio in 2016.
Her winning time was 0.37 seconds faster than her gold medal-winning time of 1:54.89 at the World Championships in Qatar in February, and put her behind only Summer McIntosh of Canada in 2024. McIntosh clocked 1:54.21 this week at the Canadian Open.
Haughey won Olympic silver in Tokyo in 2021 in both the 200m and 100m freestyle, and looked in form in the latter, too, on Friday as she won in 52.74 seconds, almost a quarter of a second faster than second-placed Kate Douglass of the US.
Hong Kong’s Camille Cheng Lily-mei also swam in the 100m and 200m metres freestyle but was unable to make the finals of either.
