Defending 200m champ Haughey out of swimming worlds with injury
The 27-year-old Haughey won freestyle silver in the 100m and 200m at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and took bronze in the same two events in Paris last year.
"I have pulled out of the world championships in Singapore due to an ongoing back injury," Haughey posted on social media on Monday.
"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," said Haughey, who took a four-month break from the sport at the beginning of this year and has only competed once since.
"As elite athletes, we're trained to push through the pain and fatigue to keep going," she wrote.
"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."
Haughey also won the 200m freestyle at the Doha world championships last year.
She had been entered in the 100m and 200m free at the World Aquatic Championships in Singapore, where the pool swimming events will take place from July 27 to August 3. — AFP
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The Star
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Feature: Reaching new heights - China's artistic swimming triumphs at Singapore Worlds
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What mattered most in the final was the quality of our artistic choreography and the overall execution of the routine." For China, who made history by winning both the duet and team events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, their victory at the Singapore Worlds further demonstrated the ongoing rise of Chinese artistic swimming. This triumph marks a new milestone, as the team has now surpassed the long-time powerhouse Russia. This victory solidifies China's place at the top of the sport. "What we've done in this competition, especially winning the team technical event with NAB participating, is a new chapter in the history of Chinese artistic swimming," said China's Spanish coach Ana Tarres. "It's the first time China has ever beaten this strong rival in a competition where they were both present. I think this is a great motivation for the girls. Nothing is impossible through hard work, discipline, commitment, and swimming. This is a step forward." 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But I think we made a big breakthrough in this competition." Looking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Russian swimmers will still be China's biggest competitors. "They (NAB) have a solid talent pool in artistic swimming. Many of their athletes are very young, born in 2007 and 2008, yet they perform at a very high level," Zhang said. "This is something we really admire and respect. Their performance still stays at a very high standard, with good synchronization, teamwork and consistency. This brings a lot of challenges for us in the future. We just won this time, but we still have a long way to go." "Compared to them, we need to make some adjustments. Many of our veteran swimmers are dealing with injuries, so we'll have to make some changes going forward," Zhang continued. "Also, I think the choreography of Spain, Italy and France is excellent." "We must always consider ourselves as challengers, never take the champion's position for granted. 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