Kim Woo-min to represent Korea in four events at Paris Olympics

Olympic Sports

Published: 28 Mar. 2024, 13:00

Kim Woo-min to represent Korea in four events at Paris Olympics

Kim Woo-min celebrates after finishing the men's 400-meter freestyle at the national squad selection contest at Gimcheon Swimming Pool in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Swimmer Kim Woo-min will represent Korea in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, 200-meter freestyle, 1500-meter freestyle and 4x200-meter freestyle events at the Paris Olympics after earning an Olympic berth in all four events at this week's national squad selection contest.

Kim Woo-min finished the 400-meter freestyle on Wednesday with a time of 3 minutes and 43.69 seconds at Gimcheon Swimming Pool in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang, surpassing runner-up Kim Young-hyun, who finished with a time of 3 minutes 50.04 seconds, by over six seconds.

“I feel like my speed in the early stage is good, but I will complement factors in the later stage of a race and aim for a 3 minute and 40 second range,” Kim Woo-min told his agency All That Sports after Wednesday’s race. “I will try to utilize my experience of competing in multiple disciplines at the selection contest and apply it well at the Olympics, so I can stand on the podium.”

The upcoming Paris Olympics will be Kim's second Olympics after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he failed to medal.

He has seen improvement since then, however, winning four medals — three gold in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, 400 meters freestyle and 800-meter freestyle and one silver in the 1500-meter freestyle — at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.

He rose to further prominence at the 2024 World Aquatic Championships, where he won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle and became the second Korean to take gold at the tournament after swimming legend Park Tae-hwan.

Another 2024 World Championships gold medalist Hwang Sun-woo — winning the 200 meters freestyle — will also head to the Paris Olympics where he will compete in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle.

Hwang Sun-woo celebrates after finishing the men's 200-meter freestyle race at the national squad selection contest at Gimcheon Swimming Pool in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

He shone at the Asian Games last year where he won six medals — two gold, two silver and two bronze — and even set an Asian record in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay with 7 minutes and 1.73 seconds along with Kim, Yang Jae-hoon and Lee Ho-joon, claiming Korea’s first-ever gold in the discipline at the Asiad.

An Olympic medal is the only thing that he has yet to secure. At the 2020 Olympics, Hwang finished the 100-meter freestyle in fifth place and came in seventh in the 200-meter freestyle.

A medal for Kim or Hwang would be a historic moment for Korea, as the country is not historically successful in swimming at the Olympics, with Park remaining the only Korean swimmer to have medaled at the Games.

Korea’s four Olympic swimming medals — one gold and three silver — all belong to Park. His silver medal from the 2012 Olympics is the country’s last swimming medal at the Games.

A total of nine Korean swimmers will be competing at this year’s Olympics that begin in July.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]