2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
- Budapest, Hungary
- LCM (50m)
- Full Competition Schedule
- Meet Info
- Psych Sheets
- Omega Results
- Pick ’em Contest
- Event-by-Event Previews
The penultimate day of competition at the 2017 FINA World Championships is now in the books, and the Hong Kong squad is celebrating a new milestone. History was made when 19-year-old Siobhan Haughey made the final of the 200 free earlier in the meet. That marked the first time Hong Kong had a swimmer in a final at a long course World Championships meet.
In the 200 free semifinals, Haughey stepped up and took down her own Hong Kong Record with a 1:56.21. With that performance, she advanced to the final as the 6th seed. Haughey went on to break the record again in the final, placing 5th with a 1:55.96 to become the first Hong Kong swimmer to break 1:56 in the event. She also competed in the 100 free, advancing to the semifinals and placing 14th overall. Earlier in the meet, she set the Hong Kong Record in that event with her 53.99 leadoff split on the 4×100 free relay.
Now that she’s hit this milestone in her career, Haughey is setting her sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where she could become the first Hong Kong swimmer to ever reach an Olympic final. She discussed her optimism towards the future in an interview with the South China Morning Post:
“I am very optimistic for the future. It is great to be able to swim with the best swimmers in the world, and heading into Tokyo 2020 I am very optimistic,” said Haughey, who was the first Hong Kong swimmer to reach an Aquatics World Championships final. “We also have the Asian Games [in Indonesia] next summer and that is a big target and then the worlds in 2019.”
There is another swimmer, however, who could also reach that milestone. Kenneth To, who was born in Hong Kong but formerly represented Australia, officially made the move to represent Hong Kong internationally earlier this year. His primary strengths are the sprint freestyles and 200 IM. To dealt with a weight room injury in 2014 that led to back surgery, but was a factor on the international scene prior to the injury with appearances at the 2013 World Championships and 2014 Commonwealth Games for Australia. He was also the silver medalist in the 100 IM at the 2012 Short Course World Championships and was crowned winner of the FINA World Cup that same year.
DAY 7 RECORDS – ASIA:
- Men’s 100 Fly: Li Zhuhao, Chinese Record, 50.96
- Women’s 800 Free: Li Bingjie, Asian Record, 8:15.46
- Women’s 800 Free: Li Bingjie, Chinese Record, 8:15.46
- Men’s 50 Back: Siman Sudartawa, Indonesian Record, 25.04
- Men”s 50 Back: Won Youngjun, Korean Record, 25.02
- Mixed 4×100 Free Relay: Japan (Katsuhiro Matsumoto, Katsumi Nakamura, Rikako Ikee, Chihiro Igarashi), Asian Record, 3:24.78
- Mixed 4×100 Free Relay: Japan (Katsuhiro Matsumoto, Katsumi Nakamura, Rikako Ikee, Chihiro Igarashi), Japanese Record, 3:24.78
DAY 7 SWIMMING MEDAL TABLE – ASIA:
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| China | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| Japan | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Singapore | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |