South Korean swimming's short-distance rising star Kim Yeom-beom (Gangwon State Government) and defending champion Ji Yu-chan (Daegu Metropolitan City Government) put on strong performances in the men's 50m freestyle heats, signaling a promising pursuit of simultaneous medals in the final.

Notably, junior swimmer Kim Yeom-beom broke the tournament record previously held by 2022 Hangzhou Games gold medalist Ji Yu-chan by a razor-thin margin of 0.01 seconds, heightening anticipation for the final.

Kim Yeom-beom claimed overall first place in the men's 50m freestyle heats at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan on the morning of September 21, with a new tournament record of 21.71 seconds.

This shaved 0.01 seconds off the 21.72 seconds record set by Ji Yu-chan three years ago when he won the gold medal in the final at the Hangzhou Games.

Speaking to reporters after the race, Kim shared his reaction to seeing the time on the scoreboard, saying, "I believed that hard work never betrays you. As much as I felt disappointed yesterday [taking silver in the 100m freestyle], I was that much happier today."

Reflecting on the race, he added, "The race felt so good up to the 25-meter mark that I almost grew overconfident like yesterday, but I snapped back to focus on the remaining 25 meters, which led to a good time."

Addressing senior teammate Ji Yu-chan, the previous record holder, Kim smiled and said, "When I saw Yu-chan's record back in Hangzhou, I thought, 'Wow, how can someone from Korea post a time like that?' and I was so envious. Now that I've achieved it myself, it feels surreal, and I finally understand what kind of feeling Yu-chan usually swims with."

Looking ahead to the final scheduled for the afternoon, Kim expressed confidence: "The preliminaries were the best race possible. My time could get faster or slower, but if I keep swimming with that effortless style that doesn't look like a typical 50m specialist, another great result will follow."


Ji Yu-chan, who advanced to the final in third place overall in the preliminaries (22.23 seconds), also congratulated his junior on setting the new tournament record.

Ji expressed satisfaction, stating, "This felt the best out of any swimming session I've had this year. If I just focus on doing my own thing without too much pressure, I think I'll get a good result in the final as well."

He also showed a cool reaction to losing his tournament record to Kim.

"He broke it by just 0.01 seconds. Since it had to be broken anyway, I'm even gladder that a fellow Korean athlete like Yeom-beom did it," Ji remarked cheerfully. "Now I just need to go break it back in the final."

Regarding the pressure of being an Asian Games defending champion, he maintained a calm resolve: "While the strongest desire is to win again since I took gold at the last games, obsessing too much over the results might prevent me from swimming my own race, so I'm trying to focus as much as possible on my current physical condition."

Having secured overall first and third places in the preliminaries, Kim Yeom-beom and Ji Yu-chan will dive into the final at the same venue on the afternoon of September 21 to chase simultaneous Asian Games medals and new records.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)