Korea aims for first medal in 800-meter relay swimming

Korean swimming is aiming for its first team medal at the World Championships.

The men's 800-meter relay team, consisting of Hwang Sun-woo (20), Lee Ho-jun, Kim Woo-min (both 22), and Yang Jae-hoon (25), will challenge for South Korea's first-ever team medal at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan on Friday.

The South Korean team will compete in the preliminary stage in the morning to secure a spot among the top 8, and if successful, they will vie for their first medal in the final slated for 9:40 p.m. on the same day. Last year, South Korea made its first-ever appearance in the finals of this event at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary, finishing 6th with a Korean record time of 7 minutes and 6.93 seconds.

The 800-meter relay requires four swimmers to each swim 200 meters in freestyle. In the past, even when "Marine Boy" Park Tae-hwan (34) was having his prime years, the Korean swimming team did not have much success in the team events as other domestic swimmers struggled to produce competitive records. However, since Hwang Sun-woo emerged as a prominent figure in Korean swimming after 2021, along with Lee Ho-jun, Kim Woo-min, and other freestyle swimmers showing remarkable progress, the 800-meter freestyle relay has emerged as an event where South Korea can aim for a medal.

The Korea Swimming Federation designated the 800-meter relay as a strategic development event early last year and sent top-performing swimmers who finished 1st to 4th in the freestyle 200-meter during the national team selection competition to Australia for intensive training. Under the guidance of renowned coaches such as Ian Thorpe and Richard Scarce, who led the Australian swimming team, the Korean swimmers have shown significant improvement in their performances.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com