Swimming: Two meet records fall at Fina Short-course World Championships
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Both Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (left) and Li Bingjie (right) triumphed on the third day of the Fina short-course swimming World Championship on Dec 18, 2021.
PHOTOS: EPA-EFE
ABU DHABI (XINHUA) - Two Championship records fell on the third day at the Fina short-course swimming World Championships as Siobhan Bernadette Haughey and Li Bingjie both triumphed on Saturday (Dec 18).
Haughey, who smashed the world record to win the women's 200m freestyle on Thursday, brought her good form to the 100m freestyle on Saturday.
The 24-year-old swimmer from Hong Kong touched the wall first in 50.98 seconds, slicing 0.16 sec off the championship record set by Ranomi Kromowidjojo in Hangzhou three years ago.
Swedish veteran Sarah Sjostrom was 0.33 sec behind Haughey in second while American Abbey Weitzeil took the bronze medal in 51.64 seconds.
"This is my first-ever short-course World Championships and to get two gold medals, that's amazing," said Haughey, who grabbed two silver medals in the 100m and 200m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer. "I feel really good how everything is going so far."
Long-distance specialist Li Bingjie also made a splash by winning the women's 800m freestyle with a new meet record of 8:02.90. The previous Championship record of 8:03.41 was set by Spaniard Mireia Belmonte in 2014.
"I have thought about winning the event," said the 19-year-old Chinese. "The result is even better than I have expected."
Her next goal is next year's Asian Games in Hangzhou, where she hopes to "make (a) breakthrough there and try to win as many as golds".
In the men's 100m butterfly, Italian Matteo Rivolta led the eight finalists in 48.87 seconds. The 30-year-old believed that winning a gold at his age was special.
"This was my first-ever final at the short-course World Championships, and the first at any world (meet) since Barcelona 2013," revealed Rivolta.
