As a Korean athlete, Hwang Seon-woo, who is aiming for a medal at the long course (50m) World Swimming Championships for the first time in 11 years since Park Tae-hwan, advanced to the final in the 200m freestyle, which is the main event.
In the men's 200m freestyle semifinal at the 2022 International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Championships held at Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Seon-woo Hwang reached the final with a time of 1:45.46, taking first place in Group 1 and 3rd place out of 16 athletes competing in the final. I did.
Romania's 18-year-old prospect David Popovic, who played in Group 2, finished the semi-final with a new world junior record of 1:44.40.
Popovich broke the Korean record and the world junior record (1:44.62) set by Hwang Seon-woo in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifiers last year.
Group 2 2nd place Felix Auboeck (Austria, 1:45.17) took second overall.
Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Tom Dean (UK, 1:45.48), who raced with Hwang Seon-woo in Group 1, placed 4th overall, 0.02 seconds behind Hwang Seon-woo. Eliza Winnington (Australia, 1:45) 53) entered the finals in 5th overall.
In the preliminary round, Hwang Seon-woo advanced to the semifinals with a record of 1:45.79, 2nd overall behind Popovich (1:45.18).
The men's 200m freestyle final will be held on the morning of the 21st.
Hwang Seon-woo will be the third Korean athlete to start the finals in the management event of this tournament, following men's 400m freestyle Kim Woo-min (Gangwon Provincial Government) and women's individual medley 200m Kim Seo-young (Gyeongbuk Provincial Government).
In addition, he became the eighth Korean athlete to reach the final in the management event of the all-time Long Course World Championships.
In the 200m freestyle, Hwang Seon-woo is second after Park Tae-hwan (2 gold medals in 400m freestyle and 1 bronze medal in 200m freestyle), the only Korean athlete to win a medalist in the management event at the long course World Championships.
In the meantime, Park Tae-hwan was the only Korean swimmer to compete in the final in the men's 200m freestyle at the Long Course World Aquatics Championships.
Park Tae-hwan won a bronze medal at the 2007 Games in Melbourne, Australia, 4th place at the 2011 Shanghai Games, and 8th place at the 2017 Budapest Games.
Now, Hwang Seon-woo is the first Korean athlete to cut the men's 200m freestyle final at the Long Course World Championships in five years since Park Tae-hwan in 2017.
And after Park Tae-hwan's 400m freestyle gold medal in 2011, he is challenging himself to win a medal at the long course World Championships for the first time in 11 years as a Korean management athlete.
In terms of the 200m freestyle, it is the first medal in 15 years since Park Tae-hwan's bronze medal in 2007, and even the best performance in Korean swimming history.
(Photo = Yonhap News)