Hong Kong Olympic silver medalist Siobhan Haughey has pulled out of the swimming World Championships in Budapest citing an ankle injury.
The Hong Kong native made the announcement on her Instagram page on Monday.
“I’m sad to share that I will not be racing at the world championships this week. At such a high caliber meet, I want to make sure I’m delivering high level performances. Unfortunately, I’m not there yet,” she said.
Haughey explained that it had not been easy getting through quarantine and lockdowns at the beginning of the year, adding that the ankle injury she has been suffering from “was really testing my character.”
She also said it has been hard trying to get through all the training and rehab to get to where she wanted to be in a short amount of time.
“While my ankle has improved A LOT (thanks to the tremendous help from all of my incredible physios and doctors🤍), I just don’t think I’m ready to race,” she said.
The 24-year-old added that it is important to know how to take care of herself and “to take a step back and keep my long-term goals in mind.”
She also wished all the swimmers good luck for the remainder of the meet.
Haughey became the first Hong Kong swimmer to win an Olympic medal last year when she took home the silver medals in the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle races at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
But she had to withdraw from the 50-meter freestyle semifinals due to a back injury.
