South Korea Captures 1 Gold, 8 Bronze Medals on Day 2; Swimming Secures First Gold

South Korean swimming, which swept a record six gold medals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, is leading the strong early performance of the South Korean delegation in the medal race at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

As of 6:40 p.m. today (the 21st), the second day of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, the South Korean delegation has won a total of one gold and eight bronze medals, including one gold and four bronze medals in swimming alone.

With 5 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 15 bronze medals, South Korea maintained third place in the overall standings, following China (22 gold medals) and Japan (8 gold medals).

Kim Young-beom presented South Korea's first gold medal in swimming at this tournament, claiming his second medal following his silver in the men's 100m freestyle the previous day.

Competing in the men's 50m freestyle final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan, he touched the pad first with a new tournament record of 21.66 seconds.

Following Ji Yu-chan at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, South Korean swimming has won this event for two consecutive editions.

Kim Young-beom set a tournament record of 21.71 seconds in the preliminaries, breaking the previous tournament record of 21.72 seconds set by Ji Yu-chan when he won gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Games by 0.01 seconds. In the final, he showed explosive form by further shaving 0.05 seconds off his preliminary record.

Defending champion Ji Yu-chan, who raced alongside him today, touched the pad in 21.94 seconds to claim the bronze medal.

In the men's 800m freestyle relay, where they sought a second consecutive tournament title, the team won the bronze medal.

Kim Jun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon, and Hwang Sun-woo finished third with a time of 7 minutes and 6.76 seconds, behind China, which set an Asian record of 7 minutes and 0.17 seconds, and Japan (7 minutes and 1.05 seconds).

Yoon Ji-hwan claimed the bronze medal in the men's 50m backstroke final with a time of 24.54 seconds, while promising prospect Kim Seung-won touched the pad in 27.72 seconds in the women's 50m backstroke final to add another bronze medal.

Many medals came from other events as well.

The men's shooting team, consisting of Park Ha-jun, Shin Min-ki, and Kwon Hyup-jun, combined for 1,884.2 points in the men's 10m air rifle individual preliminary and team event held at the Aichi Prefectural Shooting Range in Japan, finishing third behind China (1,899.0 points) and India (1,890.1 points).

The South Korean men's shooting team, which won a silver medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023, secured a team medal for the second consecutive tournament.

The first medal also came from wushu.

Ahn Hyun-ki scored 9.713 points in taijiquan and 9.716 points in taijijian for a total of 19.429 points in the wushu men's taijiquan-taijijian all-around event at the Aichi Prefectural Budokan in Nagoya, Japan, taking third place overall to win the bronze medal.

Ahn Hyun-ki, who ranked fourth with 9.713 points in the morning's first performance of taijiquan, added 9.716 points in the afternoon taijijian to move up one spot and stand on the podium.

Lee Bo-mi lost 0-3 to Diana Pogosian of Bahrain in the women's modern 54kg class semifinals of mixed martial arts (MMA) held at the Inae Sports Center in Nagoya, Japan, and took home the bronze medal.

In MMA, the two athletes who lose in the semifinals receive medals without playing a bronze medal match.

The South Korean MMA delegation concluded the tournament with one bronze medal.

The soft tennis mixed doubles pair of Park Jae-gyu and Kim Yeon-hwa lost 1-5 in set scores to Japan's Toshiki Umematsu and Rena Denma in the semifinals, finishing their tournament in third place.

The first inter-Korean matchup of the tournament also took place today.

Karate national team athlete Ahn Jung-eun defeated North Korea's Jong Se-ri with three yuko scores in the quarterfinals of the women's kumite 55kg-and-under category held at the Toyohashi Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture.

This match marked the first direct head-to-head competition between South and North Korean athletes at this tournament.

Jong Se-ri is a Zainichi Korean athlete who joined the North Korean delegation for this tournament.

The South Korean women's national football team drew 1-1 with North Korea in their third Group F match of the group stage held at the Ecopa Stadium in Fukuroi, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.