Top athletes prepare for 106th National Sports Festival event in Busan, back after 25 years
Published: 16 Oct. 2025, 14:46
Updated: 16 Oct. 2025, 18:09
![Woo Sang-hyeok signs autographs for fans after winning the men's high jump at the 2025 Diamond League meet at Stade Louis II in Monaco on July 12. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/16/204111b9-9d9f-423b-8853-9e6e5d06a507.jpg)
Woo Sang-hyeok signs autographs for fans after winning the men's high jump at the 2025 Diamond League meet at Stade Louis II in Monaco on July 12. [YONHAP]
Korea’s promising athletic talent will descend on Busan this week as the city hosts the 106th National Sports Festival for the first time in 25 years.
The weeklong multisport event begins Friday and runs through Thursday. It also serves as a tuneup for Korean athletes preparing for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan.
This year’s event is the largest in history, with 28,791 participants including 19,418 athletes and 9,373 staff from all 17 major cities and provinces. Competitions will take place in 50 sports — 48 official and two demonstration events — at 77 venues across 14 districts in Busan.
All eyes are on the country’s star athletes: High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok of Yongin City Hall, a silver medalist at the World Athletics Championships; swimmer Kim Woo-min of Gangwon Provincial Government, who won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics; weight lifter Park Hye-jeong of Goyang City Hall, a triple gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships; and archer Lim Si-hyeon of Korea National Sport University, who claimed three gold medals at the Paris Olympics.
In shooting, Paris Olympic gold medalist Yang Ji-in of Korea National Sport University, Ban Hyo-jin of Daegu Physical Education High School and Oh Ye-jin of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea will represent their respective teams, aiming to prove they can continue competing at the global level.
![Archer Lim Si-hyeon, wearing Hyundai Motor Group’s newly developed “radiative cooling hat,” wins three gold medals at the Paris Olympics. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/16/4b36c49c-ff5d-4f90-b174-2a6b4f9161fd.jpg)
Archer Lim Si-hyeon, wearing Hyundai Motor Group’s newly developed “radiative cooling hat,” wins three gold medals at the Paris Olympics. [YONHAP]
Star swimmer Hwang Sun-woo, also of Gangwon Provincial Government, will compete in five events — the 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle relays and 400-meter medley relay — as he attempts to win five gold medals for a second consecutive year. Hwang has been named MVP of the National Sports Festival for three straight years since 2021 and took five golds in each of the last two years.
His teammate Kim Woo-min is also eyeing multiple medals in the 400-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle, as well as in relay events.
Lim will go for gold in the individual and team archery events, as well as in the 50-meter and 60-meter categories. She won four gold medals and MVP honors at last year’s festival. Park Hye-jeong will look to continue her dominant form and help Goyang City Hall lead the gold medal tally in weightlifting.
Professional volleyball players Lim Dong-hyeok and Kim Myung-kwan will make their final National Sports Festival appearance representing the military team Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps before being discharged from service.
![National swimmer Hwang Sun-woo trains at the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong on July 8. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/16/8e268802-c088-4c53-84c2-d85df7a24a5b.jpg)
National swimmer Hwang Sun-woo trains at the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong on July 8. [YONHAP]
Lee Ji-yoon, the No. 1 pick in this year’s women’s volleyball rookie draft and a student at Jungang Girls’ High School, will represent Busan in her last competition before making her professional debut with Jung Kwan Jang.
The opening ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. Friday at Busan Asiad Main Stadium. It will be directed by renowned performing arts director Park Kalin and will feature a large-scale performance under the theme “The Ship Has Arrived, Busan!” (translated).
Some sports — including gymnastics, fencing, canoe, billiards, badminton, finswimming and taekwondo — were held in advance. In badminton, Ahn Se-young of Samsung Life Insurance took gold in the women’s team event for Busan. In fencing, Oh Sang-uk of Daejeon City Hall won both the individual and team titles in men’s saber.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE HAY-JUNE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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