Haughey Breaks Asian Record, Wins Silver in 50m Freestyle at Baku World Cup
On.cc · 2 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong's "super flying fish" Siobhan Haughey continued her remarkable 2026 season with another record-breaking performance at the opening leg of the FINA World Cup Short Course Swimming series in Baku, Azerbaijan. On Friday (October 2), Haughey exploded through the water in the women's 50m freestyle final, touching the wall at 23.48 seconds to set a new Asian short-course record and claim the silver medal. The time eclipsed her own Hong Kong record of 23.75 seconds set at the 2021 Italian ISL by a significant 0.27 seconds. Poland's Anna Wasiak took gold with 23.40 seconds, while Haughey edged out Russian swimmer Arina Guseva for the podium spot. This marked Haughey's first competition since her dominant display at the Nagoya Asian Games, where she collected two gold and two silver medals. The Baku event is the first of three stops on the "Silk Road" tour, which will also visit Tashkent and Astana before the year-end World Short Course Championships in Beijing.
Key Points
- Siobhan Haughey won silver in the women's 50m freestyle at the Baku World Cup with a new Asian record of 23.48 seconds
- Haughey broke her own Hong Kong record of 23.75 seconds from 2021 Italy ISL, improving by 0.27 seconds
- In the heats on October 1, Haughey clocked 23.94 seconds to qualify second fastest for the final behind Poland's Anna Wasiak
- The Baku event is the first of three stops on the "Silk Road" World Cup tour, followed by Tashkent (Oct 8-10) and Astana (Oct 15-17)
- The Baku World Cup offers a total prize pool of 1.2 million US dollars, with an additional 10,000 dollars for swimmers who win the same event at all three stops
Why It Matters
Haughey's record-breaking swim demonstrates her continued dominance in short-course swimming and positions her as a strong medal contender for the World Short Course Championships in Beijing this December . The "Silk Road" series provides valuable competition experience and an opportunity for Hong Kong's swimming programme to build momentum heading into the world championships, while the accumulated prize money supports athletes' ongoing training and development .
Haughey's record-breaking swim demonstrates her continued dominance in short-course swimming and positions her as a strong medal contender for the World Short Course Championships in Beijing this December . The "Silk Road" series provides valuable competition experience and an opportunity for Hong Kong's swimming programme to build momentum heading into the world championships, while the accumulated prize money supports athletes' ongoing training and development .