2024 Korea Olympic Trials
On the fourth day of the 2024 South Korean Olympic Trials, competition broke out in the men's 200m free race, but no new athletes were able to qualify for the Paris Games.
Following South Korea's first medal at this year's World Championships in Doha, the men's athletes geared up for an exciting competition in the individual 200m free tonight.
Leading the way is Lee Ho Jun His time of 1:46.52 earned him the top seed and put his Olympic berth on the line. His efforts are already within reach of his best performance ever. This is the third-best Korean record, matching the 1 minute 45.56 seconds set at last year's Asian Games.
Kim Woo Min, The current 400m free world champion ran a time of 1:46.91 in the next heat, becoming the only athlete to break 1:47.
Kim holds a personal best of 1:46.06 from November last year, and is also ranked as the fastest Korean athlete in history.
Kim Young Hyun Despite being the current world championship gold medalist in this event, he earned the third seed with a time of 1:48.26. Hwang Sun Woowith a qualifying result of 1:48.51, slipping into tomorrow night's final.
Top 5 Korean Men's LCM 200 Freestyle Players of All Time
- Hwang Sun Woo – 1:44.40, 2023
- Park Tae-hwan – 1:44.80, 2010
- Lee Ho-joon – 1:45.56, 2023
- Kim Woo Min – 1:46.06, 2023
- Yang Jae-hoon – 1:46.83, 2023
In tonight's final, Lee Joo Ho In the men's 100 meters, he turned the tables with a time of 53.84 seconds. This puts him about 0.5 seconds away from his lifetime best record, a Korean record of 53.32 seconds, set in 2022.
Lee needed a minimum time of 53.74 seconds to meet the World Aquatics Olympic qualification time of 53.74 seconds.
However, Li was on his way to winning the bronze medal at last year's Asian Games, scoring a score of 53.54, and his ticket was cut short. He had already qualified for Paris by running the 200m earlier in the event (1:56.62).
As a reminder, the top two finishers at these trials will qualify for Paris if they meet or beat the World Swimming Olympic qualifying times. However, the Korean Swimming Federation (KSF) High Performance Committee has announced that even if the winner here finishes with a slower time than the OQT, it will already be valid within the period (March 1, 2023 to June 23, 2024). It was decided that if an athlete has achieved a certain amount of time, he or she will be suspended. / She still qualifies for the Olympics.
Lee Eun JiHe became the new Korean record holder in the 200 meters here and won the gold medal in the 100 meters with a time of 1:00.45. A score of 59.99 was needed to meet Olympic standards in Paris. She owns the national record of 1:00.03, which earned her a bronze medal at last year's Asian Games.
Baek In-cheol He won the men's 50m fly final with a score of 23.65, and Jiyu-chan The person who touched at 23.86.
Women's 50m fly saw Jung So Eun Win gold at 26.68.
Korean Olympic qualifying, third day of qualifying ends
- Kim Woo-min – Men’s 1500m free, 14:58.03
- Lee Joo-ho – Men’s 200m back, 1:56.52. 100m back 53.54 *From the Asian Games
- Lee Eun-ji – Women’s 200m back, 2:09.88
- Choi Dong-yeol – Men’s 100m chest, 59.28 seconds *From the Asian Games
- Kim Min-seop – Men’s 200m fly, 1:54.95
- Kim Soyoung – Women’s 200m IM, 2:10.36 *From Asian Games
- Hwang Sun Woo – Men’s 100m free, 48.28 seconds
