Barton Lau Shiu-yue broke a Hong Kong record with his time at the FINA Junior World Swimming Championships in SingaporeHong Kong swimmers are making big waves this year. First, Siobhan Haughey set a new Hong Kong record and qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia. Now, it's Barton Lau Shiu-yue's turn.
The 18-year-old Diocesan Boys' School graduate set a new Hong Kong record at the 5th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Singapore for his time in the 50-metre backstroke semi finals event. Barton's time was 26.03 seconds, beating out the previous record of 26.22 seconds. He also came in 10th overall for the event.
Barton also swam in the 100-metre backstroke, and will compete in the 200-metre backstroke on Sunday.
Barton says he found it interesting to compare the physiques of swimmers from around the world.
"It was obvious that our body structure was incomparable to the [athletes from] the other countries," he told Young Post. "It allowed me to realise that I needed to work harder to achieve better results to even be able to compete with these top level swimmers."