Hwang misses podium after early lead slips away in 200m freestyle

Hwang Sun-woo reacts at the end of the men's 200-meter freestyle final on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Korea's Hwang Sun-woo missed the podium in the men's 200-meter freestyle on Tuesday, falling back to seventh over the final 50 meters after leading the pack for three lengths.

Hwang finished with a time of 1:45.26, 1.04 seconds behind the winner Tom Dean of Great Britain at 1:44.22. Great Britain's Duncan Scott took silver and Brazil's Fernando Scheffer took bronze.

Hwang struggled to keep up the pace throughout the race, starting with a blisteringly fast first length, at 23.95 seconds, but then slipping back to 28.70 seconds by the fourth length. The two British swimmers were all able to maintain a time under 27 seconds for the final three lengths.

Hwang, who set a new Korean record during the preliminary round, may have missed out on a medal in the men's 200-meter freestyle, but he still became the first Korean swimmer since Park Tae-hwan in 2012 to swim in an Olympic final.

And his Olympics is far from over. Hwang will be straight back in the water later today for the men's 100-meter freestyle at 7:02 p.m., with the final following on Thursday at 11:37 a.m.

On Friday he will then begin the men's 50-meter freestyle.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]