Haughey takes bronze in 100m free, gold for Sjoestroem

Siobhan Haughey snagged another bronze medal on Thursday in the women’s 100 metres freestyle event in Paris, making her the first Hongkonger to clinch four Olympic medals. Haughey stayed around the front of the pack throughout the first 50 metres, and was able to pull herself into second place behind the fast-starting American Torri Huske at the turn. She pushed through the last 50 metres and was in contention thoughout to grab a spot on the podium with a time of 52.33 seconds. Sweden’s world record holder Sarah Sjoestroem surged through to claim the gold with a time of 52.16 seconds, while Huske was 0.13 seconds back to pip Haughey for silver. Haughey told reporters that she knew it would be a highly competitive race, so she just wanted to focus on enjoying the whole process. "I know that my training for this race in the past few years was more intense compared to the Tokyo Olympics. I practiced a lot more in terms of training time, number of minutes, and distance. Especially as you get older, your body recovery is getting worse," she said. "Children watching TV, everyone needs to add oil (keep going). The whole journey may not be easy, but if you have a dream, just keep chasing it." Haughey earlier won the bronze in the 200 metres freestyle event, as well as two silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics in the same respective events. Sjoestroem, who set the world record back in 2017, had only committed to join the 100 metres at the last minute having previously indicated she'd focus on her favoured 50m free.