▲ The South Korean national swimming team enters the arena for the final of the men's 400m medley relay at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the 22nd. (Photo: Yonhap News)
The South Korean national swimming team added a bronze medal on the third day of swimming competitions at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
The South Korean quartet of Lee Ju-ho (backstroke, Seogwipo City Hall), Choi Dong-yeol (breaststroke, Gangwon State Government), Yang Jae-hoon (butterfly, Gangwon State Government), and Kim Young-beom (freestyle, Gangwon State Government) combined for a time of 3:31.97 in the final of the men's 400m medley relay held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan today (the 22nd), finishing third behind China (3:27.89) and Japan (3:28.70).
South Korea, which won the silver medal in this event at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, reached the podium for the second consecutive time.
The time of 3:31.97 breaks the previous national record of 3:32.05 set by South Korea at the Hangzhou Games.
Following his silver medal in the 100m freestyle on the 20th and gold medal in the 50m freestyle on the 21st, Kim Young-beom claimed bronze in the 400m medley relay today, stepping onto the podium for three consecutive days to collect a gold, silver, and bronze.
Kim Woo-min (Gangwon State Government), a leading figure in South Korean middle- and long-distance swimming, pushed through a shoulder injury to compete in the 1500m freestyle, but finished with a disappointing result.
Kim Woo-min touched the pad in 15:16.52 in the final, finishing 8th out of the 8 finalists.
While preparing for the competition, Kim suffered a partial tear of his left rotator cuff and labrum, but he cut through the water without disclosing this fact to the outside world.
He competed for the lead up to the 500-meter mark, but felt severe pain thereafter, failing to continue the momentum from his silver medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
The gold medal went to China's rising star Zhang Zhanshuo, who recorded 14:42.42.
Zhang Zhanshuo, who led the men's 800m freestyle relay to gold the previous day, secured his second title of the games.
The silver and bronze medals went to Japan's Kaito Tabuchi (14:45.99) and Kazushi Imafuku (14:54.37), respectively.
Kim Jun-woo (Gangwon State Sports Council), the youngest member of the men's national team who competed alongside Kim Woo-min, finished in 5th place with a personal best of 14:57.13.
The gold medal in the women's 100m freestyle went to Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey with a time of 52.45, while China's Yu Yiting (53.21) and Cheng Yujie (53.47) took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Heo Yeon-kyung (Daejeon Metropolitan City Facilities Management Corporation) crossed the finish line in 55.18 to finish 6th.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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