2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
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- LCM (50m)
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27-year-old Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, a four-time Olympic medalist, has withdrawn from next week’s World Championships with a back injury.
Her coach Tom Rushton tells SwimSwam that the injury was not serious, but that after not resuming post-World Cup training until April, Haughey didn’t have enough time to prepare for the World Championships. They will instead focus on the National Games of China in November.
“I have pulled out of the world championships in Singapore due to an ongoing back injury,” she said in a social media post. “I’m sad to miss out on the opportunity to compete against the best in the world, but right now I have to do what’s best for me.
“As elite athletes, we’re trained to push through the pain and fatigue to keep going. Yet at certain moments, the brave and hard thing to do is to take care of your body and wait patiently. Luckily I have an incredible team supporting me 🫶
“I can’t wait to be back racing at the world stage again. But in the meantime, I will be cheering for the Hong Kong team 🇭🇰and my friends from afar. Hope to see you all at the pool soon again🐼
Haughey, 27, won silvers in the 100 and 200 free at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and bronze in the same events in Paris. She is also the defending World Champion in the 200 free in long course.
She was scheduled to swim the 100 free (#3 seed) and the 200 free (#2 seed) at the World Championships – the same individual races as her Olympic schedule. She was skipping the 100 breaststroke, where she won bronze at last year’s lightly attended World Championship meet in February.
Including relays, Haughey holds 25 Hong Kong Records.
Haughey has been training in Hong Kong under Rushton alongside a group of international swimmers that includes Dutch breaststroker Arno Kamminga, who is also skipping the World Championships following an eight month post-Olympic break.
Haughey has dealt with a few minor injuriesin her career, including a hip injury that withdrew her from the 50 free at the Tokyo Olympics and an ankle injury that pulled her from the Mare Nostrum series in 2022.
Hong Kong has 10 other athletes scheduled to compete at the meet.
Feel sad for Siobhan, she’s a cool broad. Be well soon!
The 200m freestyle loses a lot of competition, we won’t have the Olympic silver and bronze, nor the 5th place finisher and McIntosh decided not to sign up.
Lifting weights?
Not lifting weights puts you at greater risk of injury.
Strengthening your posterior chain, spinal erectors, and lower back is essential to preventing back injuries.
You get hurt by having unstable posture and weak stabilizer muscles. The way to prevent that is to train them.
On a somewhat related note it’d be pretty cool to see Seemanova get on the podium (which seems like a decent possibility now). When was the last time the Czech Republic got a medal at Worlds?
Probably Moravcova in ’03. Can’t think of anyone since then.
After the 1992 Olympics, she actually then swam for Slovakia, which became separate from the Czech Republic in 1993.
It’s always a worry when top athletes suddenly pull out of the big meet of the season a few days before it starts.
will mss her and yang junxuan from china in 100m and 200m freestyle
Will miss her and yang junxuan from china in 100m and 200m freestyle
This year sucks 😭