Modern pentathlete Seong Seung-min has secured South Korea's first gold medal of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Seong claimed the top of the podium today (September 20) at the Asian Games modern pentathlon women's final held at the Anjo Sports Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, scoring a total of 1,492 points across fencing, swimming, obstacle racing, and laser run (running and shooting).

This marks the South Korean delegation's first gold medal of the current Asian Games, which kicked off yesterday.

In the team event, which determines rankings by combining the scores of the top three individual athletes from each participating country, Seong teamed up with Kim Eun-ju (1,399 points, 7th place individually) and Shin Su-min (1,380 points, 12th place individually) to capture the silver medal behind China.

Seong, a bronze medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, became the first South Korean female athlete to win an individual modern pentathlon title at the Asian Games.

She is recorded as the first Asian female athlete to medal at the Olympics and the first South Korean female modern pentathlete to win an individual gold medal at the Asian Games.


Additionally, Seong holds the honor of winning the first individual gold medal at the Asian Games since equestrian was replaced by obstacle racing in the modern pentathlon.

In the final, 18 athletes who advanced through the semifinals held on September 17 competed for the medals.

In fencing, conducted as a single-touch épée tournament, Seong cruised to victory starting from her very first match in the round of 16, where she edged out Yuliana Petrova of Kazakhstan 5-4.

In the semifinals, she defeated China's Zhang Mingyu, who was aiming for her third consecutive individual Asian Games title, and went on to win a head-to-head showdown against national teammate Kim Eun-ju in the final to take first place overall, earning 250 points.

In the obstacle race, where competitors quickly navigate various types of obstacles, Seong scored 358 points with a personal best time of 29.26 seconds, maintaining her lead with a combined score of 608 points.

In swimming, she placed 3rd in her heat (1 minute 01.14 seconds) and 7th overall, collecting 295 points to hold her lead in the standings across the three disciplines.

In the laser run, where starting times are staggered based on the results of the first three events, Seong started 18 seconds ahead of the second-place athlete, steadily managed her race, and crossed the finish line first to complete a new milestone.

Zhang Mingyu won the silver medal with a total of 1,460 points, while China's Wu Shiyao took third place with 1,447 points.

(Photo: Yonhap News)