Korean gymnast Kim Han-sol leaps to gold in men’s floor

Home > Sports > More

Korean gymnast Kim Han-sol leaps to gold in men’s floor

Published: 28 Sep. 2023, 16:23

Korean gymnast Kim Han-sol celebrates after completing his routine during the men's floor exercise final round at the 19th Asian Games on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Korea’s Kim Han-sol took gold in the men’s floor exercise contest on Thursday, winning the national team its first medal in gymnastics at this year’s Asian Games.

Kim, 27, scored 14.900 points in the final round, well ahead of China’s Zhang Boheng and Lin Chaopan, who each earned 14.333.

Korea dominates Hangzhou Asian Games taekwondo with fifth gold medal

Kim entered this year’s Asiad as the defending champion in the individual event, beating Chinese Taipei’s Tang Chia-hung and China’s Lin Chaopan, who took silver and bronze respectively, at the 2018 Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

A total of eight athletes competed in the final round in the men’s floor exercise at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, China.

Kim went first, setting the bar high with his 14.900 from a routine ranked at a 6.0 difficulty. He beat his gold-medal winning score in the men’s floor exercise from the last Asian Games, where he scored a 14.675.

Korea failed to medal in the men’s team event, ranking fourth among 10 countries with a score of 244.495 and coming a hair behind Chinese Taipei, with 244.760 points. China and Japan took gold and silver, respectively.

Opportunities for individual gymnasts to medal at this year’s Games remain, with several finals scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]