South Korean swimmer Hwang Sun-woo claimed bronze in the men’s 100-meter freestyle event at the Asian Games in China on Sunday, grabbing his first career medal in his debut at the continental event.
Hwang finished third in 48.04 seconds at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena in Hangzhou.
Hwang’s chief Chinese rival, Pan Zhanle, won the gold with an Asian record time of 46.97 seconds. Another Chinese, Wang Haoyu, got the silver in 48.02.
Hwang’s main event is 200m freestyle, where the 20-year-old won silver at the 2022 world championships and then bronze at this year’s worlds.
In the 100m, Hwang set an Asian record at 47.56 seconds during the Tokyo Olympics two years ago. Pan, one year Hwang’s junior, first topped that mark in May this year by clocking 47.22 seconds. Pan then outdid himself Sunday night in front of a home crowd, becoming the first Asian swimmer to break the 47-second barrier.
Swimming in Lane 5, Hwang had the reaction time of 0.62 second, third-slowest among the eight finalists. Hwang was one-hundredth of a second faster than Pan at the start, but the Chinese went on a furious charge and reached the 50m mark first in 22.45 seconds.
Wang trailed him at 22.91 seconds, while Hwang was a distant third at 23.23 seconds.
Pan covered the final 50m in 24.52 seconds to win his first Asian Games gold. Hwang had a final 50m split of 24.81 seconds, 0.3 second faster than Wang, but it wasn’t enough to push the South Korean to second place.
Hwang is only the second South Korea to reach the Asiad podium in the men’s 100m freestyle, joining Park Tae-hwan, who won silver in 2006 and then gold in 2010.
The one other South Korean in Sunday’s final, Lee Ho-joon, finished fourth in 48.68 seconds.
It was a new personal best time for Lee, whose previous career best was 48.76.
“I am really satisfied with this finish. I was able to set a new personal best even though this isn’t my main race,” said Lee, who typically excels in the 200m freestyle. “I’ve been preparing for this competition for the past three to four years. My time has been improving gradually. This was a positive experience.”
South Korea won another bronze medal in swimming Sunday, with Lee Ju-ho finishing third in the men’s 100m backstroke in 53.54 seconds. It was the second straight Asian Games bronze in this race for the 28-year-old.
Xu Jiayu of China won the gold with an Asian Games record of 52.23 seconds, followed by Ryosuke Irie of Japan at 53.46 seconds.
“I pushed so hard at the end to get the silver,” Lee said. “But I am happy to win the bronze after competing against such great athletes.”
Lee is the first South Korean swimmer in 29 years to win back-to-back medals in an Asian Games backstroke event.
Source: Yonhap News Agency