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Hau-Li FAN
Sport Open Water Swimming
NOC Canada   
GenderMen
Born08 Sep 1997 in Vancouver, CAN
Height1.88 m
 Human Interest 
Further Personal Information
Higher education
Biology - University of British Columbia: Vancouver, BC, CAN
General Interest
Other sports
He has competed in swimming at national level in Canada. (ubyssey.ca, 01 Jul 2019)
Sport Specific Information
Why this sport?
He suffers from asthma, which was a factor in his decision to choose swimming over figure skating. "I decided that I would switch to swimming just because I had more of a skill set in that sport. It also helped with the asthma." Canadian open water swimmer and Olympic bronze medallist Richard Weinberger came to train at the University of British Columbia ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Fan's coach at the university, Steve Price, had the idea of getting him to swim with Weinberger. "Steve thought I had an opportunity to just do open water as well, because I seemed to keep up with him [Weinberger] pretty well in most workouts."
When and where did you begin this sport?
He combined swimming with figure skating at a young age, but decided to focus on swimming at age 12. He began open water swimming in 2016.
Further Personal Information
Languages
English, Mandarin
General Interest
Nicknames
Howler [his coaches at the University of British Columbia decided a nickname would help with his initiation into the team]. (ubyssey.ca, 01 Jul 2019)
Sporting philosophy / motto
"The unpredictability about open water is what I think makes it interesting, because not every race is going to be the same." (ubyssey.ca, 01 Jul 2019)
Other information
PODIUM 10KM DEBUT
In 2017 he won a bronze medal in his first ever 10km race, at the World Series event at Lac Saint-Jean in Quebec, Canada. Previously he had only ever swam 4km and 6km events, and only decided to take on the event in order to gain experience in the 10km distance. "My goal was to just finish the race, because I'd never raced 10km before. When I touched that pad and finished it I thought I did a pretty good job, being in the top 10. As it turns out, I came third." (ubyssey.ca, 01 Jul 2019; gothunderbirds.ca, 27 Jul 2017)
Sport Specific Information
Club / Team
High Performance Centre - Vancouver: Canada
Name of coach
Brad Dingey [club, national]; Mark Perry [national]; John Atkinson [national]
Further Personal Information
Residence
Vancouver, BC, CAN
General Interest
Hobbies
Travelling, playing video games, watching anime. (Instagram profile, 23 Dec 2021; olympic.ca, 05 Aug 2021)
Hero / Idol
US swimmer Michael Phelps. (olympic.ca, 05 Aug 2021)
Further Personal Information
Occupation
Athlete

 Competition Highlights
World Championships
Rank Year Venue Event Result
36 2024 Doha, QAT 10km 1:52:08.7
41 2024 Doha, QAT 5km 55:12.4
9 2024 Doha, QAT 6km - Team Relay 1:07:03.4
17 2022 Budapest, HUN 10km 1:54:29.6
17 2019 Gwangju, KOR 10km 1:48:21.1
13 2019 Gwangju, KOR 5km - Team Relay 56:20.3
World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup
Rank Year Venue Event Result
  2023 Funchal, POR 10km  DNF
23 2022   10km  
11 2022 Lac-Mégantic, QC, CAN 10km 1:51:38.21
19 2022 Paris, FRA 10km 1:52:32.92
40 2021 Abu Dhabi, UAE 10km 1:51:19.2
19 2019   10km  
22 2019 Doha, QAT 10km 1:52:45.1
3 2019 Lac-Mégantic, QC, CAN 10km 2:06:52.70
50 2018   10km  
38 2018 Abu Dhabi, UAE 10km 1:54:35.1
Pan Pacific Championships
Rank Year Venue Event Result
7 2018 Tokyo, JPN 10km 1:59:26.5