"Wish I Could Have Grown My Arms Longer Last Night"... Cheerful Mixed Medley Relay Team

"If I had grown my arms a bit longer last night, I would have caught them. It's such a pity." (Kim Young-bum)

"Since Young-bum oppa's arms can't just grow out of nowhere, I should have set a personal best. And (Choi) Dong-yeol oppa should have clocked 55 seconds in the breaststroke too." (Kim Seung-won)

Behind the surprising and thrilling comeback in the mixed 400m medley relay at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games were the cheerful and bold remarks of South Korea's national athletes.

The South Korean swimming team claimed the bronze medal in the mixed 400m medley relay final held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan today (the 23rd), setting a new national record of 3:44.12.

This achievement shaved a remarkable 2.66 seconds off the previous national record of 3:46.78 set at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

The first half of the race was tough.

While China quickly pulled away with a time of 3:40.38 to secure the victory, South Korea lagged in fourth place during the legs of the first-leg backstroker Kim Seung-won (Gyeonggi Sports High School, 1:00.15) and the second-leg breaststroker Choi Dong-yeol (Gangwon State Government, 59.04), widening the gap with the leading group.

However, an explosive spurt erupted in the second half.

The third-leg butterfly swimmer An Se-hyeon (Jeju City Hall) swam the 100-meter split in 57.66 seconds, chasing the leading teams down to the wire.

Taking the baton, the final freestyle swimmer Kim Young-bum (Gangwon State Government) unleashed a fierce sprint of 47.27 seconds for his 100 meters, coming within a mere 0.14 seconds of silver medalist Japan (3:43.98) before touching the pad in third place.

Lined up in the mixed zone after the match, the four athletes showed no signs of fatigue as they exchanged lively banter.

An Se-hyeon, a 1995-born senior returning to the Asian Games podium for the first time in eight years since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, smiled brightly and said, "Back in Jakarta, even finishing third felt disappointing and unsatisfying, but today I played out a race with no regrets and I'm so happy. Since the swimmer ahead of me in the butterfly was a female athlete, there was a fun thrill in chasing her down."

Kim Young-bum, who secured the medal with a storm-like finish in the end, laughed and said, "I went into the water giving hope to my teammates by saying, 'If I jump in and catch them, we can take second place.' It's a pity because if there had been just two more meters, I think I could have caught them. Tonight, I'm going to stretch my arms a bit more and grow out my fingernails so we can definitely take first place through a tight touch fight in tomorrow's 400m freestyle relay."

Kim Seung-won, the youngest 2010-born athlete who jumped back into the water just an hour after competing in the women's 100m backstroke final to claim her third bronze medal of the games, expressed her bold ambition: "Since Young-bum oppa's arms can't actually grow longer, I should have posted my best time. Next time, I'll break into the 57-second range to beat China and become an even more dependable youngest member for my older sisters and brothers."

Choi Dong-yeol, born in 1999, smiled and remarked, "Today's race was a complete collaboration between the 'MZ generation' and the 'older generation.' Seung-won and Young-bum showed bold and confident racing even on a big stage just like the MZ generation, which actually gave a huge boost of strength to the older brothers and sister."

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