Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. Short of the Worlds Podium, South Korea Has Path to Men’s 800 Free Relay Medal A lot of eyes will be on the Asian Games this fall, when some of the continent’s top swimmers converge on Hangzhou, China. The host country, given its outstanding performance at the World Aquatics Championships last week (five gold, 16 total medals), will demand headliner status. But one harbinger of the Olympic year ahead that could stem from Hangzhou might be supplied by South Korea’s men. On paper, South Korean should be a medal contender in the men’s 800 free relay. In Fukuoka last week, that didn’t quite happen. And they’ve got less than a year to smooth out the kinks. South Korea finished sixth in the final of the men’s 800 free relay. The same foursome – Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Yang Jae-hoon and Lee Ho-joon – clocked in at 7:06.82 in the morning prelims, and then 7:04.07. But there’s more than meets the eye in those swims. Here are the splits from each swim (night split first, then morning): There are many more positives than negative in those swims. First, it’s a national record. Second, for perspective, is the progress: South Korea finished 13th at the Tokyo Games, Lee, Hwang, Kim and Lee Yoo-Yeon going 7:15.03. That’s an 11-second drop in two years. In Fukuoka, the Koreans finished just under two seconds back of the Aussies, who went 7:02.13 to win bronze. The best news may be that a path to 7:02 or lower seems pretty clear. For one, Hwang struggled mightily on both relays. Considering that he went 1:44.42 to win bronze in the individual 200 free, the gap to a medal might well lie entirely in his hands. (That time lowered his national record in the event.) Had Yang done at night what he did in the morning, they would’ve been halfway to the medal. As it stands, South Korea has three fabulous legs and one question mark. Lee finished sixth in the 200 free in 1:46.04. His relay split at night of 1:44.53 was excellent. Two A finalists in the 200 free should instantly confer relay contender status. Hwang is already a world champion in the short-course pool. Kim is a longer distance guy – he finished fifth in the 400 free and 14th in the 800, in the process taking down a Park Tae-Hwan record in the 800, the most hallowed name in recent Korean swimming. All of that is a monumental level of achievement and marks clear progress for the South Korean program. “It was hard for Korean swimmers to reach even the semifinals at the 2019 Gwangju tournament,” Hwang told Korean media this week. “Two swimmers advanced to the final at this year’s tournament, and I feel that Korean swimming has improved a lot looking at the new national records.” But a good year means South Korea can push forward from finalist contender to medal threat. Yang is the current occupant of the fourth and final leg. His finals split was the slowest of the 32 swims in the final eight. He swam 1:48 in a final with only two 1:47s, one off a flat start. He wasn’t pushed terribly hard at Korean trials for that spot, either: He went 1:48.13, while fifth was Lee Yu-yeon, at 22, in 1:48.85. If Hwang, Kim and Lee can consistently hold 1:44s, then the onus to be great is off that fourth leg. Suddenly a 1:47 from the fourth swimmer would have them flirting with the seven-minute mark. South Korea hasn’t won a men’s swimming gold medal in the Asian Games since Park in 2010, shut out of the last two installments. That seems likely to end with the current upwelling of talent. But if the meet can also lay the groundwork for Paris qualification, it’ll be even more of a win.
