Haughey fires Paris Olympic warning as Honda motors past Seto

HANGZHOU: Siobhan Haughey shattered her own Asian record to add the Asiad 100m freestyle title to her Olympic and world silver medals on Tuesday (Sep 26), as Tomoru Honda stunned an exhausted Daiya Seto in the 400m medley.

Hosts China again bossed the Hangzhou pool, taking four of the six golds on the night including with an Asian record in the men's 4x100m medley relay.

They have now topped the podium in 15 of the 20 races at the halfway mark of the six-day meet.

But the evening belonged to the 25-year-old Haughey, from Hong Kong, as she scorched her way to her second gold of the Games.

She had produced an exceptional swim on Monday to crush the pack by nearly two seconds and take out the 200m title, smashing an Asian Games record that had stood since 2010.

She was fired up again over the shorter distance in blasting a 52.17sec to send a warning to Australian freestylers Mollie O'Callaghan and Emma McKeon, with the Paris Olympics less than a year away.

"I haven't swum a best time since Tokyo (Olympic Games in 2021), but I knew I had the ability of going faster," said Haughey.

"I'm really glad that I could do it here at the Asian Games and break the Asian record. It just proves that I'm not at my peak yet and hopefully I can keep going and keep swimming faster.

"Me and my coach, we?re really prepared for Paris, and if I just keep doing what I'm doing right now, I'll be ready," she added.

Haughey's previous Asian record of 52.27 came when second to McKeon at the Tokyo Olympics. Only world champion O'Callaghan has gone faster in 2023.

China's Yang Junxuan and Cheng Yujie came a distant second and third.

Haughey's win dethroned defending champion Rikako Ikee, the standout performer at the last Asian Games, where she won six golds.

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