▲ Kim Young-beom competing in the men's 50m freestyle heats at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the 21st
South Korean swimming's "sprint rising star" Kim Young-beom (Gangwon State Government) advanced to the final in first place overall, setting a new Asian Games record in the men's 50m freestyle.
Kim touched the pad with a new tournament record of 21.71 seconds in the heats of the men's 50m freestyle at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan on the 21st.
This breaks the previous tournament record of 21.72 seconds set by Ji Yu-chan (Daegu Metropolitan City Government) when he won the gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games by 0.01 seconds.
Kim, who took the silver medal (47.65) after a close battle with world champion Pan Zhanle (China, 47.61) by 0.04 seconds in the 100m freestyle final the previous day, showed peak speed again in the 50m heats the next day, further raising expectations for a medal.
"Defending champion" Ji Yu-chan also secured his ticket to the final smoothly, clocking 22.23 seconds to finish third overall in the heats.
Japan's Matsumoto Shuya, the holder of the Asian record in this event (21.64), came in second with 22.03 seconds.
Kim and Ji, who finished first and third in the heats side by side, will head to the finals held at the same venue later this afternoon to hunt for medals together.
▲ Ji Yu-chan competing in the men's 50m freestyle heats at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the 21st
The men's 800m freestyle relay team, the defending champions aiming for their second consecutive title at the games, advanced easily to the final even while resting key players Kim Woo-min and Hwang Sun-woo (both from Gangwon State Government).
Swiming in the order of Kim Min-seob (Gyeongbuk Sports Council), Yang Jae-hoon, Kim Jun-woo (both from Gangwon State Sports Council), and Lee Ho-joon (Jeju City Hall), they combined for a time of 7 minutes 14.35 seconds to finish third overall.
China took first place (7:11.70) and Japan took second place (7:13.02).
In the men's 50m backstroke heats, Yoon Ji-hwan (Gangwon State Government) advanced to the final in second place overall with 24.74 seconds.
Lee Ju-ho (Seogwipo City Hall) finished with 25.61 seconds, ranking 12th and getting eliminated in the heats.
In the women's 50m backstroke heats, Kim Seung-won (Gyeonggi Physical Education High School) with 27.91 seconds (2nd) and Lee Eun-ji (Gangwon State Sports Council) with 28.55 seconds (9th) advanced to the final.
In the women's 200m freestyle heats, Cho Hyun-joo (Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Government) placed 7th with 2 minutes 02.45 seconds, securing a ticket to the final given to the top 10 swimmers.
In the men's 100m breaststroke heats, Choi Dong-yeol (Gangwon State Government) finished 2nd with 59.53 seconds and Cho Sung-jae (Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps) finished 10th with 1 minute 00.79 seconds, successfully advancing to the finals together.
In the women's 200m individual medley heats, Lee Song-eun (Jeonbuk One Sports Club) touched the pad in 2 minutes 15.66 seconds (6th), earning a spot on the starting blocks for the afternoon final.
Lee Hee-eun (Daejeon Metropolitan City Facilities Management Corporation), who was scheduled to compete alongside them, suffered from sudden high fever symptoms in the morning and was unable to participate in the race.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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