Hong Kong 15-year-old Sum Yiu Li posted a personal-best 50 freestyle time of 25.03 at the Hong Kong Open Swimming Championships on Saturday, touching a few tenths faster than two-time Olympic silver medalist Siobhan Haughey‘s old junior city record from 2013.
Li knocked a couple tenths off her Hong Kong junior record of 25.29 from her 9th-place finish at May’s Mare Nostrum Tour stop in Canet, which broke Haughey’s previous standard of 25.38 from the 2013 World Junior Championships. Haughey, who owns the national record at 24.30 from last October, won bronze in that 2013 World Juniors final ahead of Abbey Weitzeil (25.48) and Shayna Jack (25.87) but behind winner Ruta Meilutyte (25.10). She’s expected to be a medal contender in both the 100 free and 200 free at the Paris Olympics later this month.
Li’s new lifetime best at Victoria Park would rank 8th in the U.S. girls 15-16 national age group (NAG) rankings if she was American — and she only just turned 15 in April. She’s only a few tenths shy of the Olympic ‘A’ cut in the 50 free (24.70).
Li’s progression in the event has been remarkable over the past year. She clocked a 26.01 as a 14-year-old at the 2023 Mare Nostrum Tour stop in Canet last May, then hit 25-second territory for the first time last October (25.86). After going 25.69 in February, she followed up with a 25.44 in April right before turning 15 — which would rank 5th in the U.S. girls 13-14 NAG rankings if she was American.
Li gained international racing experience at last September’s World Junior Championships, where she placed 19th in the 50 free (26.33). She made her major senior-level debut at the 2024 World Championships in February, where she helped Hong Kong place 9th in the women’s 4×100 free relay (54.98 anchor, fastest split on team) and 18th in the women’s 4×200 free relay (2:12.82, slowest in the field) in Doha, Qatar.
She splits 54.26 100 free in relay too! A very good result for a 15-year-old girl, for me even a better swim than her 25.03 50 free
It will be interesting to see if she swims at Junior Pan Pacs, where she’d race against Rylee Erisman. Rylee, who also only recently turned 15, swam a 24.62 at trials.
World’s fastest female swimmers at 50m freestyle:
13 yo Yolane Kukla 25.35
14 yo Yolane Kukla 24.74
15 yo Cate Campbell 24.13
16 yo Cate Campbell 24.13
17 yo Cate Campbell 23.99
18 yo Cate Campbell 23.99
19 yo Cate Campbell 23.99