Paris Olympics loom but teen breaks Siobhan Haughey record as Hong Kong swimmers eye 2028
- As Hong Kong’s current crop prepare for 2024 Games, their potential successors grab limelight at city championships
Hong Kong’s next generation of swimmers seized the day at Victoria Park on Saturday as one smashed Siobhan Haughey’s junior city record set 11 years ago and another beat a member of the Paris Olympics squad.
Li Sum-yiu, 15, made a splash at the Hong Kong Open Swimming Championships by winning her 50 metres freestyle heat with a time of 25.03 seconds.
That was over a third of a second faster than Paris medal contender Haughey swam at the Fina World Junior Swimming Championships in the United Arab Emirates in 2013, and was only 0.33 outside this year’s Olympic qualifying time.
In the final, Singapore’s Amanda Lim Xiang Qi timed 25.15 to finish 0.03 faster than Li, but overseas swimmers were not eligible for a podium finish. That gave the title to Li, whose time of 25.18 was again under Haughey’s old mark. Poon Lok-yan finished second in 26.59, with Gabriella Lutz third in 27.22.
“Because it’s Siobhan’s record, I feel so glad to break it,” Li said. “In the next few years, I hope to break more records.
“I thought I was going to get to the Olympics [during this year’s qualification window] because there was a chance, but I failed. This gives me the motivation to push myself.”
