Kim Woo-min wins Hangzhou triple crown, MVP, challenges for fifth consecutive national championship

Three-time Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games gold medalist Kim Woo-min (Gangwon-do) has won gold at the national level.

Kim finished first in the men’s 1500-meter freestyle final at the 104th Jeonnam National Games on Thursday at the Mokpo Indoor Pool in Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, clocking 15 minutes, 15.75 seconds to win the event.

His time fell short of the national record of 14:52.25 he set last year. However, the gold medal was a great start to the Games. In addition to the 1500 meters, Kim will compete in the 400 freestyle, 400 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay, and 800 freestyle relay in the men’s general category.

“After the Asian Games, my body was not in perfect condition, so I had a hard time in the race, but I thought it was an experience, and I will overcome any situation and show good results,” Kim said through his management company, All That Sports.

“I want to show the team’s hard work at the national championships with our records and rankings,” Kim said, adding, “We will work harder to win five titles this time around.”

Kim was followed by Oh Se-bum (Anyang City Hall) in 15:20.77 and Jang Kyu-sung (Dokdo Sports Team) in 15:30.42.

Kim Woo-min was the biggest star of the Hangzhou Asian Games. He swept the gold medals in the men’s 800-meter freestyle relay, 400-meter freestyle, and 800-meter freestyle. He also won a silver medal in the 1500-meter freestyle.

For his efforts, Kim was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the South Korean team.

Meanwhile, Baek In-cheol (23-Busan Jung-gu Office) rewrote the Korean record in the men’s 50-meter butterfly in less than a week.

Baek won the 50-meter butterfly final in the men’s general category with a new Korean record of 23.15 seconds.

In doing so, Baek shaved 0.14 seconds off his previous best of 23.29, which he set on September 28 when he won the Hangzhou Asian Games.

After the race, Baek said through the Korean Swimming Federation, “I’m refraining from broadcasting and other activities to focus more on my training because I think I might be harmed by the attention after the Asian Games,” adding, “I’m happy with this result, but it wasn’t a perfect race. There was a moment in the middle of the stroke when I couldn’t hold onto the water completely, and I’ll try to make it more perfect next time.”

This year alone, Paik has broken four Korean records and two Korean ties. He has shown his upward trajectory as the ‘best butterfly swimmer’.

After breaking his first Korean record in November last year at the Management National Selection Trials in 23.67 seconds, which was 0.02 seconds faster than the previous record, Baek won the men’s 50m butterfly final at the 13th Gimcheon National Swimming Championships in March in 23.67 seconds.

He then dropped another 0.17 seconds to 23.50 at the KB Financial Korea Swimming Championships just over a month later to qualify for his first World Championships.

At the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka in July, she finished 23rd in a Korean record time of 23.50 and 토토 was eliminated in the preliminaries. However, he bounced back to become the Asian Champion at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September, breaking the meet record and the Korean record twice in a row.

In the men’s senior men’s race, the ‘youngest member of the national team’, Kim Young-beom (Gangwon Cheego High School 2), won the event in a new meet record of 23.98.