[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Hwang Sun-woo (18, Seoul Physical Education High School), the new hope of Korean swimming, broke the 11-year-old Korean record in the men's freestyle 200m at his Olympic debut and advanced to the semifinals as the top qualifier.
On the 25th, at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan, Hwang Sun-woo finished first in heat 3 of the men's freestyle 200m preliminaries at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a new Korean record of 1:44.62, ranking first among all 39 swimmers across 5 heats.
Accordingly, Hwang Sun-woo will compete in the semifinals with 16 swimmers on the morning of the 26th. If he finishes among the top 8 in this race, he will advance to the final on the morning of the 27th and challenge for his first-ever Olympic medal.
The previous Korean record in the freestyle 200m was 1:44.80, set by Park Tae-hwan when he won the gold medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. Hwang Sun-woo improved this by 0.18 seconds after about 11 years.
Hwang Sun-woo's previous personal best was 1:44.96, a world junior record set at the national team selection competition held in Jeju last May. He lowered this record as well in just about two months.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
