Hwang Sun-woo takes 200-meter freestyle silver at FINA World Championships

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Hwang Sun-woo takes 200-meter freestyle silver at FINA World Championships

Hwang Sun-woo celebrates on the podium after winning the men's 200-meter freestyle silver medal at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Monday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Hwang Sun-woo celebrates on the podium after winning the men's 200-meter freestyle silver medal at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Monday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Hwang Sun-woo, left, celebrates with gold medal winner David Popovici of Romania and bronze medal winner Tom Dean of Britainon the podium after winning the men's 200-meter freestyle silver medal at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Monday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Hwang Sun-woo, left, celebrates with gold medal winner David Popovici of Romania and bronze medal winner Tom Dean of Britainon the podium after winning the men's 200-meter freestyle silver medal at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Monday. [EPA/YONHAP]

 
Hwang Sun-woo won a world championship silver medal on Monday at the FINA World Championships men's 200-meter freestyle in Budapest, Hungary, marking Korea's first podium finish in 11 years.
 
Hwang set a new Korean record and a personal best of 1:44.47 for the 200-meter race, claiming silver 1.26 seconds behind David Popovici of Romania. Popovici swam a new world junior record of 1:43.21 to take gold. 
 
Tom Dean of Great Britain won the bronze medal with a time of 1:44.98, 1.77 seconds behind the gold medalist.  
 
In the semifinals, Hwang swam a time of 1:45.46 to finish first in his group and third of all 18 semifinalists.  
 
Hwang’s medal marks the first time in 11 years that a Korean swimmer has won a medal at the FINA World Championships. The last time a Korean swimmer finished on the podium was in 2011, when Park Tae-hwan took gold. 
 
Hwang’s silver in the men’s 200 meters is the best finish that Korea has ever had in the discipline, bettering Park’s bronze medal won in 2007.  
 
Hwang and Park are the only two Koreans to have reached the World Championships podium. They are also among the four Asians to win a medal at the World Championships. Park has a total of three World Championship medals to his name — a men’s 400-meter freestyle gold and men’s 200-meter freestyle bronze in 2007 and a men’s 400-meter freestyle gold in 2011.  
 
For 19-year-old Hwang, this marks his first-ever World Championship medal though he does have four international medals — one World Swimming Championship gold medal in the men’s 200-meter freestyle won in December 2021 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, one Swimming World Cup gold medal in the men’s 200-meter freestyle won in Doha, Qatar and two bronze medals in the men’s 100-meter and men’s 100-meter medley at the same event.
 
At the Doha World Cup, Hwang won the bronze medal despite the fact that the swimming lanes at the Doha World Cup were 25 meters, only half the length of official Olympic swimming lanes, and it was his first time competing in the shorter lane.
 
The 200-meter freestyle gold medal Hwang won in December 2021 in Abu Dhabi was his first gold from a major FINA competition. At the time, Hwang had also set a new Korean record in the men's 100-meter medley semifinal, swimming with a time of 52.13 seconds and breaking his own previous record of 52.3 seconds. The previous 100-meter medley record was set by Hwang himself, last October at the FINA Swimming Doha World Cup 2021 men's 100-meter medley final. 
 
Even before that at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Hwang become the first Korean swimmer to reach a men's 100-meter final on the big stage.
 
Not only did Hwang reach the finals, he finished fifth in the 100-meter freestyle, the best finish by an Asian swimmer since 1952.
 
Hwang also made a name for himself by shattering two national records and an Asian record at the Games.  
 
In Budapest, two other Koreans alongside Hwang have reached the finals as of press time. 
 
Kim woo-min finished seventh in the men’s 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3:45.64, marking the first time a Korean swimmer advanced to the final of the men’s 400-meter freestyle race since Park won the gold medal in 2007.
 
Kim Seo-yeong finished sixth in the women’s 200-meter medley with a time of  2:11.30.
 
The FINA World Championships will run through July 3.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]
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