▲ Kim Seung-won poses with her Youth Olympic medal.
Kim Seung-won, a rising star in South Korean women's swimming, has signaled a bright future for the nation's swimming by winning a silver medal at the 2026 Dakar Summer Youth Olympics, the first-ever Youth Olympics held on the African continent.
Competing in the women's 100m backstroke final at the 4th Summer Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, Kim touched the wall in 1:00.25 to secure the silver medal.
After advancing through the preliminaries earlier in the day with a time of 1:01.06, Kim demonstrated remarkable focus and race management in the final, shaving 0.81 seconds off her previous time.
She finished just 0.27 seconds behind gold medalist Daria Mariuca Silisteanu of Romania.
Kim previously drew global attention as a promising prospect by winning a silver medal in the women's 50m backstroke at the 2025 World Junior Swimming Championships held in Otopeni, Romania last year.
She is also a promising athlete who holds the South Korean record in the event at 27.71 seconds.
Kim also proved her competitiveness on the Asian stage at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, where she captured a total of four bronze medals, including individual events in the 50m and 100m backstroke, as well as the women's 400m medley relay and the mixed 400m medley relay.
Going straight to the Youth Olympics after finishing her Asian Games schedule, she reached the podium on a stage featuring youth athletes from around the world, raising expectations for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
(Photo: Provided by Korea Swimming Federation, Yonhap News)
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