The “Victoria Harbour Swim 2025”, organised by the Hong Kong China Swimming Association (HKSA), was held on the morning of the 22nd. The race started from the Wan Chai Golden Bauhinia Square Public Pier and ended at the Tsim Sha Tsui Avenue of Stars, with a total distance of about 1 kilometre. Nearly 4,000 swimmers participated.
The first place in the men's division and women's division went to Sin Chin Ting and Nip Tsz Yin, with times of 17:48.60 and 19:18.83 respectively. Both are representatives of Hong Kong’s open water swimming team. Siobhan Haughey, who just claimed 2 golds and 2 bronzes at the National Games, was only 32 seconds behind the women's winner and took second place.
Siobhan Haughey said that this was her first time participating in the “Victoria Harbour Swim”. She noted that crossing the harbour is very different from swimming in a pool, as one cannot see the bottom in the sea or clearly know the direction. Even though it is possible to swim towards tall buildings as a target, there are still many other things to pay attention to, so she relied mainly on her senses to move forward.
Wang Minchao, president of the China Swimming Association, said that around 4,000 people took part in this event, with only one person injured. The organisers stated that last year’s event was cancelled due to a typhoon, so they maintained the participant numbers this year rather than expanding, but hope to increase the number to 10,000 next year, at which time two race courses will be set up.