Haughey’s record-breaking swim unbelievable: ex-coach

A former coach of Siobhan Haughey has described as “pretty unbelievable” the double Olympic silver medalist’s world record swim in the women’s 200 metre short course freestyle in Abu Dhabi.

Coleman Wong told RTHK that the Hong Kong swimmer – who took gold in the event on Thursday at the Fina World Swimming Championships – didn’t make a single mistake.

Wong, who coached Haughey at the South China Athletics Association for four years from when she was 10, said he wasn’t expecting her to break the world record.

“A world record is always hard to break and it’s hard to get close to,” said Wong, who’s now coaching in Australia.

“I think she took a very short break after Tokyo and then back to the [International Swimming League] which gave her a big advantage in the short course … such as turn, start and finishing.”

Haughey was competing in the women’s 100 metres freestyle semi-finals later on Friday and Wong said he thought she would continue to perform well.

“Obviously she comes in from a quite high emotional status last night and this morning she just has to made it to the final, and then in the final anything can happen,” he said.

Wong suggested that even another world record couldn’t be ruled out.

“It’s hard to say. Sometimes it’s just maybe luck, or it’s just that moment and how she manages it. It’s hard to say. But I think everyone will see quite a good result in the final.”