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Stephy Zhang

Hong Kong’s Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung beat her personal best time twice in a single day and broke a Hong Kong record set by Siobhan Haughey on her way to bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Asian Games on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old touched the wall in 58.05 seconds to finish third behind China’s Yu Yiting and Zhang Yufei, eclipsing Haughey’s previous city mark of 58.12 seconds set in 2023.
China’s Yu and Zhang captured gold and silver with times of 56.41 and 56.44, respectively.
Kan had already lowered her personal best from 59.40 to 58.34 in the morning heats before shaving off another 0.29 seconds in the final.
Looking up at the big screen after touching the wall, she reacted in shock, screaming “Oh my God!”

Competing in her third Asian Games, Kan expressed disbelief during a post-race interview after securing her first individual medal, admitting she still needed time back at her hotel to fully process the achievement.
“Really surprised, because I honestly didn’t expect to win a medal in this event,” she said, recalling her sixth-place finish in the finals at the previous edition in Hangzhou.
Swimming in Lane 5 alongside formidable rivals, including home favourite Rikako Ikee, Kan highlighted her mental transformation.
“If it were me in 2023, I would have been terrified swimming in Lane 5,” she said.
Kan said this time she approached the final as if it were her last race, giving maximum effort while heeding her coach’s advice to simply enjoy the experience.
“I really didn’t care about anything else – I just pushed myself to the absolute limit and hoped for the best,” Kan said. “I mean, I already swam a PB [personal best] this morning, so regardless of how the finals went in the afternoon, I had already achieved a goal and was already very happy.”
Kan spent a full year preparing exclusively for the Asian Games following her graduation.
She gave special credit to her coach, who helped orchestrate her breakthrough after working together for just one year.
“I want to thank everyone who supported me, because it was them who had real confidence in me when I had no confidence in myself,” she said. “So I’m really grateful to have their support.”
Despite entering the final with the second-fastest overall qualifying time behind Zhang, Kan insisted she felt no pressure.
“Actually, I was most worried about their waves, but when I was swimming, it didn’t seem like much,” she said. “Plus, I’ve trained so much alongside the male swimmers, so I felt this was fine, no problem at all.”
Calling the medal a major career milestone that rebuilds her self-belief, Kan noted that dropping over a second gives her a huge confidence boost heading into Friday’s 50m butterfly, while also inspiring confidence across Hong Kong swimming.
Kan will compete in the women’s 50m butterfly, having already captured silver alongside Haughey, Gilaine Ma, and Li Sum-yiu in the 4x100m freestyle relay.


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Hong Kong’s Natalie Kan wins bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Asian Games. Photo: Robert Ng

Natalie Kan beat Siobhan Haughey’s record in the final. Photo: AP

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Natalie Kan claimed bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly. Photo: AP

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The 24-year-old beats Hong Kong record set by Siobhan Haughey in 2023 while finishing behind China’s Yu Yiting and Zhang Yufei,


The 24-year-old beats Hong Kong record set by Siobhan Haughey in 2023 while finishing behind China’s Yu Yiting and Zhang Yufei,.


Zhang Yufei

Siobhan Haughey

Asian Games: Natalie Kan ‘really surprised’ to win bronze, break record in 100m butterfly

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The 24-year-old beats Hong Kong record set by Siobhan Haughey in 2023 while finishing behind China’s Yu Yiting and Zhang Yufei,

The 24-year-old beats Hong Kong record set by Siobhan Haughey in 2023 while finishing behind China’s Yu Yiting and Zhang Yufei,