Yeo Seo-jeong Wins First Gold in 8 Years; Kayak Four Claims Historic Victory

The South Korean delegation at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games secured two gold medals on the first day of the Chuseok holiday.

Gymnastics star Yeo Seo-jeong (Jecheon City Hall) scored an average of 14.483 points across her first and second attempts in the women's vault final held at the Nagoya Comprehensive Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, today (September 24), taking first place and capturing the South Korean gymnastics team's first gold medal of the competition.

Yeo claimed her second Asian Games gold medal, eight years after her victory at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.

She sat out the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, held in 2023, to compete at the World Championships, which served as a qualifier for the team event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Yeo has now matched her father, Yeo Hong-chul, executive director of the Korea Gymnastic Association and the original "Vault Emperor," with two Asian Games gold medals.

North Korea's An Chang-ok won the silver medal in the event with 13.666 points.


South Korea's next gold medal came from canoeing.

Cho Kwang-hee, Kim Hyo-bin, Jang Sang-won, and Choi Mingyu competed in the men's canoe sprint K4 500m final at the Miyoshiike Canoe Venue in Aichi Prefecture, crossing the finish line first with a time of 1:22.587.

This marks South Korea's first-ever gold medal in the men's K4 500m canoe sprint, often called the "flower of canoeing."

After settling for consecutive silver medals at the Jakarta and Hangzhou Games, South Korea finally wrote a new chapter of history in its third attempt.

Medals also poured in from the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, where swimming events are taking place.

In the men's 4x100m freestyle relay final, South Korea swam in the order of Hwang Sun-woo (Gangwon State Government), Kim Jihun (Daejeon Metropolitan City Sports Council), Yang Jae-hoon, and Kim Young-beom (both from Gangwon Provincial Government), touching the pad in 3:11.69 to secure the silver medal.

Amid fierce competition among South Korea, China, and Japan, China took home the gold medal with a new Asian record of 3:10.60.

In the men's 800m freestyle final, Kim Jun-woo (Gangwon Provincial Government) tied for second place with Japan's Kaito Tabuchi with a time of 7:43.86.

With the event's defending champion, Kim Woo-min (Gangwon Provincial Government), withdrawing due to a shoulder injury, 19-year-old rising star Kim Jun-woo proudly stood on the podium alone.

In the women's 200m breaststroke final, Park Si-eun (Gangwon Provincial Government) recorded 2:22.69, finishing 0.12 seconds behind winner Kotomi Kato of Japan (2:22.57) to take second place.

In the men's 200m breaststroke final, men's breaststroke standout Cho Sung-jae (Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps) clocked 2:08.76, narrowly edging out Mak Sai Ting of Hong Kong (2:08.77) by 0.01 seconds to capture a thrilling bronze medal.

In this event, Japan's Shin Ohashi won the gold medal while setting the competition's first world record in swimming with a time of 2:04.83.

Cho Hyun-joo (North Gyeongsang Provincial Government), Hur Yeon-kyung (Daejeon Metropolitan City Facilities Management Corporation), Han Da-kyung, and Lee Song-eun (both from Jeonbuk Won Sports Club) teamed up to win the bronze medal in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay with a time of 8:01.87.

In the shooting skeet mixed team event, Jang Kuk-hee (KT) and Lee Jong-jun (South Chungcheong Provincial Sports Council) finished second with 51 points in the final, trailing the Chinese duo of Lyu Jianlin and Zhang Yiting (52 points) by 1 point to claim the silver medal.

This is South Korea's first-ever medal in the skeet mixed team event at the Asian Games.

Rowing ace Park Hyun-su won a bronze medal in the lightweight men's single sculls, an event he won eight years ago, with a time of 6:53.35 in Final A.

The sepaktakraw team defeated Indonesia 2-0 in the women's team regu semifinals, securing at least a silver medal.

Having advanced to the finals for the third consecutive time, South Korea will face Thailand for the gold medal on September 25.

The women's basketball national team routed Indonesia 101-59 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals, where they will square off against defending champion China on September 25.

Both the South Korean men's and women's 3x3 basketball national teams advanced to the semifinals together.

The men's team defeated China 22-13 in the quarterfinals to enter the final four.

The women's 3x3 basketball team edged out Taiwan 14-12 in the quarterfinals, propelled by the performance of Song Younha (KB), who recorded 6 points and 7 rebounds, to advance to the semifinals.

The 3x3 basketball tournament will hold all of its men's and women's semifinals, bronze medal matches, and finals on September 25.

South Korean track short-distance sprinters Bessala Daniel Casama (Ansan City Hall) and Namadi Joel-jin (Yecheon County Office) both advanced through the men's 100m preliminaries with identical times.

Running in heat 2 of the men's 100m preliminaries at the Mizuho Park Stadium in Nagoya, Namadi Joel-jin finished first in his heat with a time of 10.23 seconds, outpacing Yuki Koike (10.33 seconds, Japan) and Chen Wen-pu (10.33 seconds, Taiwan).

Bessala, who ran in heat 3, also clocked 10.23 seconds to place second behind Ali Al-Balushi (10.06 seconds, Oman).

As of September 24, South Korea maintained third place in the medal standings with 10 golds, 12 silvers, and 28 bronzes.

As of 9:30 p.m., China leads the standings with 77 gold medals, while Japan sits in second with 20 gold medals.

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