South Korean swimming star Hwang Sun-woo easily advanced to the preliminary round of the men's 100-meter freestyle.

Hwang finished second overall with a time of 48.13 seconds in the men's 100m freestyle preliminaries at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan today (September 20).

First place went to Pan Zhanle of China, who recorded 48.07 seconds.

Assigned to the last of the five preliminary heats, Heat 5, Hwang raced alongside Pan Zhanle, the world record holder in this event (46.40 seconds).

Hwang swam in lane 5, while Pan was in lane 4.

Hwang passed the first 50-meter mark in first place, but Pan touched the pad first at the finish.

The Tokyo Aquatics Centre is where Hwang first made his name known to the global swimming community.

Hwang set a then-Asian record of 47.56 seconds in the semifinals of the men's 100m freestyle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, and subsequently adjusted his main event to the 200m freestyle.

Hwang, who won the bronze medal in this event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, will aim for a medal in the final scheduled to take place at the same venue later this afternoon.

Kim Young-bum, competing in Heat 4, finished with a time of 48.34 seconds, securing his ticket to the final as the third-fastest overall in the preliminaries.

Kim, who has emerged as a powerhouse in South Korean short-distance swimming, is considered a medal contender in this event.

In the women's 200-meter butterfly, which kicked off first, Kim Yun-hee and Lee Hee-eun both advanced to the final.

Kim Yun-hee advanced through the preliminaries in 4th place with 2:11.09, and Lee Hee-eun in 8th place with 2:12.64.

Kim Ji-hoon and Kim Min-seok, who competed in the men's 200m individual medley preliminaries, secured tickets to the final after finishing 4th (2:00.06) and 6th (2:01.28) respectively.