Hong Kong star Siobhan Haughey will be out to boost the local relay team in a last-ditch bid to qualify for the Olympics, as competition returns to a public swimming pool for the first time since the pandemic began.
Hong Kong is trying to qualify for Tokyo in the women’s 4 x 100 metre medley relay before qualification closes this month and super talented swimmer Haughey will provide a timely boost as she swims in the butterfly leg – not one of her strongest strokes – at Victoria Park.
Haughey has gone from strength to strength during the past few years, becoming Hong Kong’s first world-class swimmer. Last month, she swam the world’s third fastest time of the year for the 200 metre freestyle – her pet event.
Haughey, who has already secured three Olympic berths in the freestyle (50m, 100m and 200m), may switch to butterfly in the relay with Tam Hoi-lam staying at the helm in freestyle. Stephanie Au Hoi-shun and Jamie Yeung Zhen-mei will keep their places in the backstroke and breaststroke respectively.
Hong Kong’s two women’s freestyle relay teams (4x100 metre and 4x200 metre) have already secured their tickets to Tokyo after finishing within the top 12 at the 2019 World Championships but the medley relay team, who had held one of the four best times for non-qualifiers for Tokyo (there are 16 teams in the Olympics) until last week’s European Championships in Budapest, has dropped to 23rd.
“We will stage the medley relay this time to provide our team a chance to qualify for Tokyo,” said David Chiu Chin-hung, honorary secretary of the Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association.
“This will be our last chance before the relay qualification closes this month. And we may also change the squad line-up to improve our time to under four minutes and two seconds to boost our chances.”
Hong Kong finished 14th at the 2019 World Championships in four minutes and 3.52 seconds but Belarus, Finland, Denmark and Spain took the four remaining berths in Budapest, with Spain clocking 4:02.38 as the last team to qualify.
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey swims world’s third-fastest time of the year for 200m freestyle at Olympic trial
Head coach Chen Jianhong said Hong Kong was taking a gamble by slotting Haughey in the third butterfly leg, which has been the medley relay team’s weakness. He said Hong Kong swimmers had improved in the freestyle and not having Haughey swim in her strongest stroke would not make a big difference. The team must improve their time by 1.5 seconds to have a chance of qualifying.
Meanwhile, after three successive rounds of Olympic qualifying meets held behind closed doors at the Sports Institute in Fo Tan from this year, the fourth round – Division 1 swimming competition – will move to Victoria Park with limited fans allowed to attend, but stringent safety measures will still need to be observed.
“We know the pandemic has eased a bit in Hong Kong and public swimming pools have also reopened. With the help of government departments, we are able to stage the fourth round of Olympic qualifiers back in a public pool,” said Chiu.
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“Although only a limited number of guests will be allowed, we still need to follow the health precaution measures.
“We are also planning two more rounds of qualification meets [for individual swimmers] in June and hopefully more Hong Kong swimmers can reach the required standard for Tokyo.”
Also in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay, Hong Kong still need one swimmer who can reach the Olympic B standard to complete the Olympic squad. Youngster Ho Nam-wai comes close to making it but needs to prove it this weekend. Cheuk Ming-ho will also give his best effort in the men’s 200 metre freestyle to see if he can become the first Hong Kong male swimmer to reach the A standard.
