Sprinters Namadi Joeljin, Bewesa Advance to 100m Semifinals at 5th and 6th Overall

South Korean athletics sprint frontrunners Namadi Joeljin (Yecheon County Office) and Bewesa Daniel Kasama (Ansan City Hall) have advanced to the semifinals of the men's 100m at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, ranking 5th and 6th overall.

Namadi Joeljin finished first in heat 2 of the men's 100m held today at the Mizuho Park Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, clocking 10.23 seconds to beat Yuki Koike (10.33 seconds, Japan) and Chen Yuan-fu (10.33 seconds, Chinese Taipei).

Competing in heat 3, Bewesa also clocked 10.23 seconds, finishing second behind Ali Anwar Ali Al-Balushi (10.06 seconds, Oman).

In the men's 100m, a total of 24 athletes advance to the semifinals, consisting of the top three finishers in each heat plus the six next fastest runners.

Bewesa and Namadi Joeljin are South Korea's sprint powerhouses who both recorded 10.13 seconds this year, tying for the second-fastest time in Korean history.

The South Korean record in this event is 10.07 seconds, set by coach Kim Kuk-young in June 2017.


Following the race, the organizing committee released overall rankings calculated down to one-thousandth of a second, with Namadi Joeljin placing 5th overall at 10.223 seconds and Bewesa placing 6th overall at 10.230 seconds.

North Korea's Jo Chol-ryong finished 5th in heat 1 with 10.55 seconds but narrowly squeezed into the semifinals with the 23rd-fastest overall time.

Puripol Boonson of Thailand, considered a favorite for the title, easily advanced to the semifinals by setting a season-best and overall leading time of 9.95 seconds in heat 1.

In the women's 100m heats held the same day, Seo Ji-hyun (Jincheon County Office) finished 3rd in heat 3 with a personal best of 11.83 seconds, and Kim Ju-ha (Siheung City Hall) also placed 3rd in heat 4 with a personal best of 11.73 seconds, successfully advancing to the semifinals.

The men's and women's 100m semifinals and finals will take place tomorrow at the same venue.

Competing in the women's 10,000m final today, Cho Ha-rim (Mungyeong City Hall) finished 8th with a time of 34 minutes and 34.66 seconds.

Jang Minho (Anyang City Hall), Kim Seo-yun (Changwon City Hall), Shin Min-gyu (Seoul City Hall), and Lee A-young (Gwangyang City Hall), competing in the mixed 1,600m relay final, placed 6th with a time of 3 minutes and 19.18 seconds.

Earlier today in the preliminaries, the national team finished 4th in heat 2 with a Korean record of 3 minutes and 18.66 seconds to reach the final, where they produced another strong performance.

The previous South Korean record was 3 minutes and 22.87 seconds, set in May of last year by Shin Min-gyu, Kim Seo-yun, Joo Seung-gyun, and Kim Ju-ha.

Bahrain claimed the gold medal, setting an Asian Games record of 3 minutes and 12.87 seconds.

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