19-Year-Olds Set National Records, Win Three Silver Medals in Swimming

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South Korean swimming added three silver medals today (September 24). Nineteen-year-olds Park Si-eun in the women's 200m breaststroke and Kim Jun-woo in the men's 800m freestyle both claimed silver medals with new national records. The men's 400m freestyle relay team also delivered a thrilling silver-winning race.

Reporting from Tokyo, here is Ha Seong-nyong.

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Park Si-eun, who finished second overall in the preliminaries, cut through the water with even greater force in the final.

Maintaining third place from the start, she picked up speed past the 100-meter mark, successively overtaking Chinese and Japanese competitors to pass the 150-meter mark in the lead.

Her late-race stamina fell just slightly short.

With about 10 meters remaining before the finish line, she allowed Japan's Kato to overtake her, touching the pad in second place with a 0.12-second difference.

Though she missed out on the gold, Park clocked 2:22.69, breaking the Korean record by 0.52 seconds. Overwhelmed by the emotion of her first individual medal and the regret of narrowly missing the top spot, she shed tears for a long time.

[Park Si-eun / National Swimming Team Member: I missed first place by such a narrow margin, so I feel a mix of relief and regret, and I want to see my mom.]

Expressing gratitude to her parents cheering from the stands, Park's eyes welled up again as she thought of her grandfather, who passed away around the time she first started swimming.

[Park Si-eun / National Swimming Team Member: It felt as though my grandfather was right there where the South Korean flag was hanging, so I missed him so much, and I teared up out of deep gratitude to him.]

In the men's 800m freestyle, where Kim Woo-min withdrew due to a shoulder injury, national team youngest member Kim Jun-woo won a surprise silver medal.

He passed the 700-meter mark in third place, but with a fierce final spurt, he touched the pad simultaneously with Japan's Tabuchi to tie for second place.

Kim Jun-woo shaved 2.17 seconds off senior teammate Kim Woo-min's Korean record to capture his first individual medal.

[Kim Jun-woo / National Swimming Team Member: I am just glad if I can ease (Kim) Woo-min's disappointment, even in this small way.]

The men's 400m freestyle relay team overtook Japan to win the silver medal, powered by a thrilling comeback race from final swimmer Kim Young-beom.

Kim Woo-min, who competed in the preliminaries despite a shoulder injury, shared in the joy from the stands.

The women's 800m freestyle relay team and Cho Sung-jae in the men's 200m breaststroke each secured bronze medals.

Having added five medals in a single day, the South Korean swimming team will continue their quest for medals across seven events tomorrow, the final day of the six-day competition.

(Photo: Yonhap News) | Video by Park Hyun-chul | Video Editing by Park Jung-sam
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.