Swimmer Park ups confidence by winning in Olympic tune-up

Champion swimmer Park Tae-hwan looked happy Friday after winning the men’s 200-meter freestyle in the 84th Dong-A Swimming Championships held at Munsu Arena in the southern port city of Ulsan.

He set a championship record with a time of 1 minute 46.09 seconds, beating the previous mark of 1:50.89. He stopped short of breaking his personal best and the Asian record of 1:44.80 set at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010, but was displaying a sense of accomplishment.

The 2008 Olympic gold medalist posted a time of 1:18.98 at the 150-meter point, showing that he could break his personal record. He recorded a time around 1:46 because he saw his pace slow down in the last 10 meters, yet brimmed with confidence over potentially breaking his personal best.

Winning Korea`s first Olympic gold in swimming in 2008, Park showed his intent to win two more golds in London this summer by winning his flagship 400-meter freestyle and 200-meter freestyle events at once.

The world record in the 200-meter freestyle is 1:42 flat held by Paul Biedermann of Germany, more than 2 seconds faster than Park’s best time.

Park`s coach Michael Ball said, however, “Since Park has focused on training over the past several months without going astray at all, he can sufficiently achieve a good record in 200-meter race as well at the Olympics.”

According to Park’s swimming team sponsored by SK Telecom, the swimmer had a time of 1:40 level in practice. If he boosts his condition, he could break the world record and win the gold in the 200-meter freestyle as well as the 400 meters.

“I`m doing my best to meet the expectations of Koreans. I will live up to their expectations at the Olympics,” Park said.

Ball added, “He has many competitors, but since Park has seen his physical endurance and speed increase, I expect a good performance from him in the 200 meters as well.”

yjongk@donga.com wing@donga.com