12 Hours of Hell Training From Dawn... "Challenging a Sweep of All Events!"

[Anchor]

At the Jincheon National Training Center, currently bustling with preparations for the Nagoya Asian Games, the athletes who begin their training the earliest are the national modern pentathlon team.

Reporter Jeon Yeongmin met these ironmen and ironwomen who are sweating from dawn until dusk to sweep all four gold medals across the men's and women's individual and team events.

[Reporter]

At 5:35 AM, before the sun even rises, the modern pentathlon team begins their rigorous conditioning.

They repeat sprinting 400 meters and shooting, and after running 10 kilometers for an hour, they have to submerge their bodies in ice boxes to cool down their body heat.

[Wow! Don't do that, seriously don't do that. Seriously!]

After continuously plowing through fencing, swimming, and the newly introduced obstacle training which replaces riding, it is 6:30 PM. The palms of the athletes bear the clear marks of the 12 hours of intense daily training.

[Jun Woong-tae / National Modern Pentathlon Team: (Calluses) are heavily embedded. It feels like doing a completely new sport. It feels like doing an exercise entirely different from before.]

Captain Jun Woong-tae's determination is especially extraordinary.

For the obstacle event, he removed a metal pin in his left arm that caused him pain, and even underwent surgery to remove sweat glands in his hands to prevent slipping as he prepares for his third consecutive Asian Games title.

[Jun Woong-tae / National Modern Pentathlon Team: I think of it as a new challenge, and I think of returning to my initial mindset. I am thinking of winning the first modern pentathlon gold medal at the Asian Games once again.]

With Seo Chang-wan, who won a World Cup title last May, and Seong Seung-min, who claimed a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics followed by a silver medal at the World Cup Final, also counted among the favorites, the national team is determined to monopolize all four gold medals in the men's and women's individual and team competitions.

[Seo Chang-wan / National Modern Pentathlon Team: Everyone is such a skilled athlete that it wouldn't be surprising whoever wins an individual medal.]

[Seong Seung-min / National Modern Pentathlon Team: As long as I don't make mistakes and do my absolute best, I guarantee without a doubt that we will bring home medals.]

(Video by Yang Doo-won | Video Editing by Park Jung-sam | Design by Lee Ga-jin)