An underwater view shows Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey competing in a semi-final of the women's 200m freestyle swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on July 27, 2021. (FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT / AFP)

TOKYO - One of Hong Kong's top medal hopes, 23-year-old Siobhan Haughey, is making waves among the top female swimmers with a solid performance by cruising into the final of the 200m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday - the second-fastest time in the semi-final heats.

This is the first time a Hong Kong swimmer has reached an Olympic final, clocking a time of 1:55.16.

Siobhan Haughey, 23, will race for gold on Wednesday at 9:41 am Hong Kong time as she goes head to head with the likes of Australian Ariarne Titmus, America's Katie Ledecky and Federica Pellegrini of Italy

Haughey finished about a third of a second behind Australian Ariarne Titmus, who had just won the 400m freestyle gold on Monday.

Hong Kong's best swimmer in history will race for gold on Wednesday at 9:41 am Hong Kong time as she goes head to head with the likes of Titmus, America's Katie Ledecky and Federica Pellegrini of Italy.

She went into the semis ranked eighth after her time of 1:56.48, behind Ledecky who won the heats overall in a time of 1:55.28 but ahead of Pellegrini who placed 15th in a time of 1:57.33.

Haughey, who was born and grew up in Hong Kong, has been improving since her debut at the Rio Games in 2016 and entered the 200m freestyle with one of the top three times this year for the event.

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Hong Kong has never won a swimming medal at the Olympics and the public is eyeing Haughey as one of their best chances.

Bronze medallists of Hong Kong (from left to right): Sze Hang Yu, Stephanie Hoi Shun Au, Siobhan Haughey and Camille Lily Mei Cheng pose with their medals on the podium during the victory ceremony for the women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay swimming event during the 17th Asian Games at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Centre in Incheon on Sept 21, 2014. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP)

"What's important is to go back and recover and really be on top of my game for tomorrow," she said on Monday evening before the semi-final.

Haughey is also racing the 100m freestyle and 50m freestyle events along with the relay, setting her up for a busy schedule in Tokyo.

She had been training at the University of Michigan in the United States until the COVID-19 pandemic forced pools to close and prompted her to return to Hong Kong in June 2020 to train at the city's Sports Institute. Haughey's coach at the university, Rick Bishop, continued to send her workouts every morning.

Since the 2019 World Championships when Haughey just missed the podium for the 200m freestyle, she has stormed races organized by the International Swimming League.

Being part of the Energy Standard team has also helped Haughey boost her confidence.

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"Last year I wasn't even sure this (Olympics) would be happening," she said.

"That this is actually happening, it gave me something to look forward to and I'm just so thankful and feel so grateful... I get to race the best in the world again and it's a great experience so far."

With inputs from Reuters