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Mike Chan

For the past decade, Siobhan Haughey has spent a lot of time in the spotlight as the city’s star of the pool, but she is not the only swimmer making waves at the National Games.
Ian Ho Yentou grabbed his share of headlines on Sunday, storming to the men’s 50m freestyle gold in Shenzhen by winning the final that also included China’s Olympic star Pan Zhanle.
Ho’s success marked the first time a Hong Kong men’s swimmer has won a gold medal at the multi-sports games in China. And what is just as impressive, the veteran swimmer won in a time of 21.71 seconds, shattering the city’s record, which he set only months ago at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
The day after claiming his historic gold at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre, Ho reflected on his remarkable feat to the Post.
“It was sick. I was very pleased with it,” said the United States-born swimmer, who arrived just over two months before Hong Kong’s 1997 handover back to China. “It’s one of those feelings that you can’t really believe until you have it.
“Definitely surreal, and with that, there is a lot of gratitude. Just feeling so grateful to all the people who helped me along the way, it’s really special.”

Looking back at the race, Ho said it was “full on from the dive”, and he could tell “I was ahead by the 30m mark”.
“I think I knew I had a decent chance to swim fast, but of course it is hard to know how fast anyone else will swim,” he said.
In the end, Ho finished half a second faster than the three closest swimmers. Chen Hao from Liaoning finished second in 22.17 to win silver, while bronze was shared between Fujian’s Liu Wudi and Zhejiang’s Pan, both finishing in 22.21.
This was not the first time Ho had finished above Pan. He beat the Wenzhou swimmer to second place at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Ho added that he had put in a lot of effort into his training to work on the dive and the under water part of the race, and the two-time Olympian admitted he was nervous going into the final, “thinking of the race beforehand, visualising it”.
“It’s just nice to see the hard work that I put in pay off, and really, it’s a testament to all the people that I have around me,” he said. “They support me day in and out, and I’m just happy that they get to share in the good results as well.”
The historic gold medal has provided Ho with “even more motivation to continue”, and the academic star, who is closing in on his mechanical engineering PhD at Virginia Tech, already has his next big tournament lined up.
“I have studies to get back to. I’m still working on my grad degree, so for the time being I’m officially in off-season where I can focus on school,” he said. “I am currently working on my publications. I need to publish three journal papers before I can defend my dissertation.
“Hopefully, I will graduate within the first half of next year. Then I’ll look at getting back with my next target, the Asian Games [in Nagoya].”
But before all of that, Ho embarked on a Tuesday morning flight back to the US with his gold medal safely wrapped in his luggage.


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Ho wins final that included China’s Olympic star Pan Zhanle, states that victory is “definitely surreal”


Ho wins final that included China’s Olympic star Pan Zhanle, states that victory is “definitely surreal”.


Swimming

Pan Zhanle

Ian Ho Yentou

Hong Kong’s Ian Ho reflects on becoming first male swimmer to win gold at National Games

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ho wins final that included China’s Olympic star Pan Zhanle, states that victory is “definitely surreal”

Ho wins final that included China’s Olympic star Pan Zhanle, states that victory is “definitely surreal”