South Korean canoeist Chang Sang-won (Yeonsu-gu Office, 33) has captured a silver medal in the men's kayak single 500m at the Asian Games.

Chang finished second with a time of 1 minute, 44.433 seconds in the final of the canoe sprint men's kayak single 500m at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Miyoshiike Canoe Venue in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on September 26.

On September 23, Chang teamed up with Cho Kwang-hee, Kim Hyo-bin, and Choi Min-gyu to win South Korea's first-ever gold medal in the canoe sprint men's kayak fours 500m, an event often called the flower of canoeing.

With his silver-winning performance in the singles event today, he is now celebrating a successful campaign with one gold and one silver medal at this year's Games.

Chang started with the most fierce momentum.

He clocked the fastest time of 48.77 seconds among all competitors in the first 250-meter section, taking an early lead.

However, he was narrowly overtaken during the fierce spurt battle in the latter 250 meters.

Shahriyor Makhkamov of Uzbekistan, who had closely pursued Chang in second place through the first section, unleashed a powerful late surge to claim the top spot.

Chang crossed the finish line in 1 minute, 44.433 seconds, finishing 0.791 seconds behind the champion Makhkamov (1 minute, 43.642 seconds).

Although he missed out on the gold, it was a thrilling finish as he held onto the silver medal by warding off a fierce charge from third-place Dmitry Kholmogorov of Kazakhstan (1 minute, 44.453 seconds) by a mere 0.02 seconds.

(Photo: Yonhap News)