Hwang Sun-woo making a comeback.
The South Korean management team of Hwang Sun-woo, Choi Dong-yeol (Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province), Lee Ju-ho (Seogwipo City Hall) and Kim Young-beom (Gangwon Chego) set a new Korean record in the men’s 400-meter medley relay.
South Korea set a new national record in the men’s 400-meter medley relay with a time of 3:34.25 during the preliminary round of the men’s 400-meter freestyle relay at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships at Fukuoka Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall in Fukuoka, Japan on Tuesday.
Although the Koreans finished 10th out of 22 teams and missed out on a spot in the finals, which is reserved for the top eight teams, they made history by breaking the national record.
Their time of 3:34.25 was 0.71 seconds faster than the previous Korean record of 3:34.96 set by Hwang Sun-woo, Choi Dong-yeol, Kim Woo-min, and Yang Jae-hoon (all of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province) at the 18th Jeju Hallabae National Swimming Championships on April 18.
They were just 0.98 seconds behind eighth-place Great Britain (3:33.27), which was the last team to reach the final.
The 10th place finish is also the best ever for the men’s 400 medley relay at a World Aquatics Championships. They finished 17th in Gwangju in 2019 and 13th in Budapest in 2022.
The medley relay is a team event in which four swimmers swim the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle in reverse order.
South Korea’s Lee Ju-ho was the first to race in lane 2, lane 1. Lee was in fourth place at the 50-meter mark, but was overtaken by competition and handed the baton over in seventh place.
Choi Dong-yeol, lane 2, made a strong effort and moved up one spot to sixth, but Kim Young-beom, lane 3, struggled and dropped back to seventh.
South Korean swimming sensation Hwang Sun-woo won bronze in the men’s 200-meter freestyle final at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships at Fukuoka Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall in Fukuoka, Japan, on Friday afternoon.
The final swimmer, Hwang Sun-woo, cut a strong swath of water in the freestyle leg. Although he didn’t change places, he touched the touchpad in 3:34.25, breaking the Korean record by three seconds.
In the women’s medley relay 400m heats, Lee Eun-ji, Heo Yeon-kyung (Sangsang Bangsango), Kwon Se-hyun (Anyang City Hall) and Kim Seo-young (Gyeongbuk Provincial Office) combined for a time of 4:05.16.
However, the team finished 18th out of 23 teams, failing to qualify for the final and failing to break the Korean record of 4:03.38.
Kim Seo-young, the poster child for Korean women’s swimming, also competed in the 400-meter individual medley heats that preceded the team competition.
Kim’s time of 4:45.04 in the women’s 400m individual medley preliminaries was good enough for 19th place out of 35 swimmers, and she did not qualify for the finals. There are no heats in the 400m individual medley, with the top eight swimmers qualifying for the finals. Katie Shanahan (GBR) was the last swimmer to qualify, clocking 4:39.46.
Korea ended the World Aquatics Championships with one bronze medal. Hwang Sun-woo won bronze in the men’s 200-meter freestyle.
However, Korea set eight new national records in seven events at the Games.
Hwang Sun-woo broke his own Korean record (1:44.42) in the men’s 200-meter freestyle final.
Kim Woo-min touched the touchpad in the 800m freestyle preliminaries in 7:47.69, 2.24 seconds faster than Park Tae-hwan’s South Korean record of 7:49.93 set at the 2012 London Olympics.
Choi Dong-yeol also touched 59.59 in the 100-meter breaststroke semifinals, 0.04 seconds off the previous South Korean record of 59.63.
A total of five Korean records were set in the team events.
The men’s 800-meter freestyle relay team of Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Yang Jae-hoon broke the Korean record in the preliminaries with a time of 7:06.82 and the final with a time of 7:04.07.
Ji Yoo-chan, Yang Jae-hoon, Heo Yeon-kyung, and Jung So-eun broke the Korean record in the 400-meter medley relay with a time of 3:27.99, while Lee Eun-ji, Choi Dong-yeol, Kim Young-beom, and Heo Yeon-kyung broke the Korean record in the 400-meter freestyle relay with a time of 3:47.09. On the final day of competition, 토토사이트 the eighth and final Korean record came in the men’s 400-meter medley relay.
