Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong won her first long-course world gold in the women’s 200-meter freestyle on Wednesday at the World Aquatics Championships. Haughey, a three-time short-course world champion, touched first in the large pool after years of close calls.
She won silver medals in the 100 and 200 freestyle events at the Tokyo Olympics, as well as runner-up in the 100 freestyle at the world championships in Fukuoka last summer.
Haughey also finished fourth in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2019 and 2023 world championships, just missing the podium. In the first final of the night, Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen won the men’s 800 freestyle in 7 minutes, 40.94 seconds, earning his country’s first world championship title. The first Hong Kong swimmer to earn an Olympic medal swam under world record speed through 150 metres before holding on to win in 1:54.89. She finished far behind O’Callaghan’s world championship record of 1:52.85 from last year.