Choi Byeong-kwang Wins Bronze in Men's Half Marathon Race Walking... "Happy and Overwhelmed"

South Korean race walking standard-bearer Choi Byeong-kwang (35, Samsung Electronics) has won the bronze medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Competing in the men's half marathon race walk held on the road course in Nagoya, Japan, today (the 23rd), Choi crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 1 hour, 28 minutes, and 35 seconds, following China's Si Shengji (1 hour, 23 minutes, 32 seconds) and Japan's Toshikazu Yamanishi (1 hour, 28 minutes, 01 second).

This is South Korea's first athletics medal of the current tournament.

This marks the first time in 8 years that a South Korean athlete has won a medal in race walking at the Asian Games, following Joo Hyun-myung (bronze) at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.

After the race, Choi shared through the Korea Association of Athletics Federations, "Winning a medal at the Asian Games, which I thought might be my last, makes me happy and overjoyed, and I felt quite emotional. I was able to win this medal thanks to the unwavering support the federation provided to the race walking team. I firmly believe that our younger athletes will achieve even greater results than I did."

Choi has competed in four consecutive Asian Games from the 2014 Incheon Games to this tournament, marking his first-ever Asian Games medal.

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