'Pace Control?' Kim Woo-min Advances to 400m Final in 7th Place at Heats [Paris Olympics]

Kim Woo-min, aiming for the gold medal in the men's 400m freestyle swimming event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, advanced to the final by finishing 7th overall in the preliminary heats.

On the 27th (local time), Kim Woo-min competed in Heat 4 of the men's 400m freestyle preliminaries at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the La D?fense swimming pool in Paris, France, finishing 4th in his heat with a time of 3 minutes 45.52 seconds.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

Kim Woo-min led the race at the 100m mark with a split of 53.31 seconds but lost first place to Australia's Samuel Short at the 150m mark. He maintained second place until the 300m mark but dropped two positions in the final 100m, finishing 4th in the heat.

After the completion of the first four heats, Kim Woo-min's time ranked 5th overall. If four or more swimmers in the final heat posted better times than him, he risked failing to qualify for the final.

Fortunately, only two swimmers in the last heat recorded faster times than Kim Woo-min, allowing him to narrowly secure a spot in the final.

The fastest qualifier overall was Germany's Lukas Martens, who finished with a time of 3 minutes 44.13 seconds, 1.39 seconds faster than Kim Woo-min. Martens is a strong gold medal contender, holding the fastest 400m freestyle time this year at 3 minutes 40.33 seconds.

However, in the final of the 2024 World Championships held in Doha, Qatar, this past February, Kim Woo-min defeated Martens by pushing him to third place and claiming the championship. At that time, Kim Woo-min recorded a time of 3 minutes 42.71 seconds, ahead of Martens' 3 minutes 42.96 seconds. Australia's Elijah Winnington finished second.

Winnington posted a time of 3 minutes 44.87 seconds, ranking 4th overall in the preliminaries and advancing to the final.

The final race, which will determine the medal colors, will be held at 3:42 AM Korean Standard Time on the 28th.