Second Place at World Championships' Korean Swimming's Golden Generation
Second Place at World Championships' Korean Swimming's Golden Generation, Young People Dream of Olympic Medals
Entered the silver medal 6th squad, 0.1 second behind China, in the men's 800m relay at the Doha World Championships and advanced toward a medal at the Paris Olympics.
Hwang Sun-woo (20) and Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) said whenever they had the opportunity, “Please look forward to the men’s 800m relay.”
It was a ‘word of confidence’ that came after confirming the growth of himself and his colleagues.
The confidence built through hard work resulted in a silver medal in the men's 800m relay at the World Aquatics Championships. 바카라사이트
The Korean national team competed in the final of the men's 800m relay at the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar on the 17th (Korean time), in that order: Jae-hoon Yang (25, Gangwon Provincial Office), Woo-min Kim, Ho-jun Lee (22, Jeju City Hall), and Sun-woo Hwang.
Yeong-yeong took second place with a time of 7 minutes 01.94 seconds.
The gap with first place China (7 minutes 01.84 seconds) was only 0.1 seconds.
The golden generation that opened the renaissance of Korean swimming won the first ever silver medal in a team event at the World Championships.
Park Tae-hwan (34) is still the best athlete in Korean swimming history, but the current era, with freestyle swimmers such as Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, and Lee Ho-jun competing together on the world stage, can be recorded as a 'time when Korean swimming shines more' than in the 'Park Tae-hwan era'.
A relay event medal cannot be won by a single genius.
Tae-Hwan Park, who became the first Korean swimmer to win a gold medal at the Olympics and World Championships, did not achieve any significant results in the relay event.
It's different now.
In the men's 200m freestyle final at the 2024 Swimming Management National Team Selection Competition held in November last year, Hwang Sun-woo (1:45.68), Kim Woo-min (1:46.06), and Lee Ho-jun (1:46.07) competed in a close race, finishing 1-3. Climbed on top.
They all passed the International Aquatics Federation's A record (1 minute 47.06 seconds) to participate in the Doha World Championships.
Only two athletes from the same country can participate in the same event, so an unusual scene was created where Kim Woo-min, whose main event is the 400m freestyle, gave up his right to participate to Lee Ho-jun.
In the 2023 national team selection held in March last year, Hwang Sun-woo (1 minute 45.36 seconds), Lee Ho-jun (1 minute 45.70 seconds), and Kim Woo-min (1 minute 46.10 seconds) passed the International Aquatics Federation A record.
Hwang Sun-woo's statement that "we cannot guarantee victory even in domestic competitions" is no longer a harsh statement.
In addition, the competition for the fourth swimmer in the 800m relay is fierce.
In 2023, Yang Jae-hoon took over this position, but in 2024, Lee Yu-yeon was selected as the 'official number 4 English character.'
At the Doha competition, Lee Yu-yeon took charge of the preliminaries, and Yang Jae-hoon, who saved his stamina, participated in the finals and enjoyed the effect of the 'fourth Englishman competition'.
As domestic standards increased, international competitiveness also increased.
Korean swimming produced two ‘World Championship individual event champions’ at this competition.
Kim Woo-min won the 400m freestyle, and Hwang Sun-woo won gold in the 200m freestyle, completing his collection of gold, silver, and medals at the World Championships in this event.
The Korean men's 800m relay team, with individual event champions No. 2 (Kim Woo-min) and No. 4 Yeong-ja (Hwang Sun-woo), competed for the championship in Doha and won a silver medal.
The Korean men's 800m relay advanced towards the center of the world at high speed.
In July 2023, he ranked 6th at the Fukuoka World Championships with a time of 7 minutes 04.07 seconds, and in the finals of the Hangzhou Asian Games in September of that year, he set a new Asian record of 7 minutes 01.73 seconds and stood on the highest podium.
He also stood on the podium at the World Championships in Doha, where he participated wearing the armband of the Asian Games champion.
Swimming media outlet Swimswam made a 'bold prediction for 2024' earlier this year, predicting that "the Korean men's 800m relay team will win a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics."
Australia did not participate in this event at the Doha World Championships, and England and the United States formed teams at the '1.5 level'.
However, a silver medal at the World Championships can give the golden generation confidence.
The Korean national team is aiming to win a medal at the Paris Olympics, which will be a close match.
Just before the Doha World Championships, the Korean Swimming Federation sent Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Yang Jae-hoon, Lee Ho-jun, and Lee Yu-yeon to Australia to undergo 'high-intensity training for four weeks.'
It was training with the goal of ‘getting into the 6th squad for the Paris Olympics’, not the Doha World Championships.
Great Britain won the men's 800m relay at the Tokyo Olympics with a time of 6 minutes 58.58 seconds.
Second-place Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) touched the touchpad in 7 minutes 01.81 seconds, and third-place Australia touched the touch pad in 7 minutes 01.84 seconds.
The first to third place records at the Fukuoka World Championships were 6:59.08 (Great Britain), 7:00.02 (USA), and 7:02.13 (Australia).
If the athletes and Korean swimming reach the 6th squad as their goal, Korean swimming will be able to successfully win its first-ever Olympic team medal in Paris.
Expectations grew even higher as the golden generation of Korean swimmers won a silver medal at the World Championships while the fatigue from intense training had not completely subsided.
