Swimmer Hwang Sunwoo, 39th Overall in 50m Freestyle Heats... Finishes First Olympics

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] "The hope of Korean swimming," Hwang Sun-woo (18, Seoul Physical Education High School), concluded his first-ever Olympics after the men's freestyle 50m preliminary race.

On the 30th, at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Japan, Hwang Sun-woo recorded a time of 22.74 seconds in the men's freestyle 50m preliminaries at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing 7th in heat 6 and 39th overall. He did not advance to the semifinals, which feature the top 16 swimmers.

Hwang Sun-woo's personal best in the freestyle 50m is 22.39 seconds, set during the national team selection preliminaries last May. The Korean record for this event is 22.16 seconds, set by Yang Jae-hoon (Gangwon Provincial Office) at the national team selection meet last November.

In this event, Hwang did not surpass the Tokyo Olympics A qualifying standard (22.01 seconds) but did pass the B qualifying standard (22.67 seconds).

However, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) allows additional entries if an athlete who has met the Olympic A qualifying standard in one event surpasses the B qualifying standard in another event at a FINA-approved competition within the validity period. This enabled Hwang Sun-woo to compete in the freestyle 50m as well.

With this race, Hwang Sun-woo completed his first Olympic schedule. He participated in four events: freestyle 50m, 100m, 200m, and the 800m freestyle relay. Although he did not win a medal, he firmly established his name in the world swimming community.

In the freestyle 200m, he became the first Korean swimmer in nine years since Park Tae-hwan to reach the Olympic swimming final, finishing 7th with a time of 1:45.26. In the freestyle 100m, he set a new Asian record and world junior record of 47.56 seconds in the semifinals, then finished 5th in the final with a time of 47.82 seconds.

This was the best result by an Asian swimmer in the Olympic men's freestyle 100m since Hiroshi Suzuki of Japan won the silver medal at the 1952 Helsinki Games, 69 years ago.