Swimmers race across Hong Kong’s Victoria Bay

By KATIE TAM and HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — More than a thousand men and women plunged into the cool water of Hong Kong’s Victoria Bay on Sunday morning, competing to see who could swim the fastest across the harbor in open water. The New World Harbour Race has been suspended the past two years due to the pandemic and the 2019 anti-government protests that roiled Hong Kong. The competition was reopened on Sunday with a limited field of 1,200 swimmers. The one-kilometer (0.62 mile) race went from Wan Chai on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. For some participants, the best part of the race was just feeling like life was normal again amid the pandemic.