Kim Woo-min, Wins Gold in the 400m Freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships... 13 Years After Park Tae-hwan

Kim Woo-min, the first gold medalist in the management event at the Doha World Championships, a feat.

Korean swimming has already broken the record for the most medals in a single world championship ever.

Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) presented Korean swimming with a World Championship gold medal for the first time in 13 years since Park Tae-hwan (34).

Kim Woo-min won the gold medal with a time of 3 minutes 42.71 seconds in the men's 400m freestyle final at the 2024 Doha International Aquatics Federation World Championships held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar on the 12th (Korean time).

He also had the honor of being named the first gold medalist in the management category at this competition.

Kim Woo-min, who maintained the world record pace until the 300m turn, beat the last-minute pursuit of 2nd place Elijah Winnington (23, Australia) and was the first to hit the touchpad. 카지노사이트

Winnington's record was 3 minutes 42.86 seconds, 0.15 seconds slower than Kim Woo-min.

Kim Woo-min failed to break Park Tae-hwan's Korean record of 3 minutes 41.53 seconds, but he climbed to the highest spot on the podium, beating his own best record (3 minutes 43.92 seconds) by 1.21 seconds.

Third place was Lucas Martens (22, Germany) with 3 minutes 42.96 seconds.

Until this day, only one Korean athlete, Park Tae-hwan, had won a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships.

Tae-hwan Park took first place in the men's 400m freestyle at the 2007 Melbourne and 2011 Shanghai competitions.

Thanks to Kim Woo-min, Korean swimming produced a world championship gold medalist for the first time in 13 years.

In addition, Korean swimming has already changed the ‘record for the most medals in the world championships’ on the first day of the management event at this competition.

Previously, in this diving competition, Kim Su-ji (25, Ulsan Metropolitan City Hall) won bronze medals in the women's 3m springboard and Lee Jae-kyung (24, Incheon Metropolitan City Hall) won bronze medals in the mixed synchro 3m springboard.

The previous record for the most medals won by Korean swimming at a single world championship was two, set at the 2007 Melbourne Games.

At the time, Tae-hwan Park ranked first in the men's 400m freestyle and third in the 200m freestyle.

In Doha, three medals have already been won.

Kim Su-ji won the women's 1m springboard diving medal at the 2019 Gwangju Games, and Hwang Seon-woo (20, Gangwon Provincial Office) won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle (Budapest, 2022) and a bronze medal (Fukuoka, 2023).

The number of previous World Championship medals increased to 9 (3 gold, 1 silver, and 5 bronze).

Kim Woo-min's 'sprint early' strategy worked.

In the finals on this day, Kim Woo-min took second place with a time of 25.32 seconds, turned 50 meters, and then increased his speed further to rise to first place.

Kim Woo-min was dominant enough to maintain the ‘world record pace’ until the 300m mark.

Although his speed dropped to 28.78 seconds in the 300-350m section and 27.89 seconds in the last 50m section, he widened the gap early on and overtook his pursuers.

Winnington ran the last 50 meters in 26.67 seconds, but was unable to surpass Kim Woo-min.

In this event, Kim Woo-min placed 6th in Budapest in 2022 and 5th in Fukuoka in 2023.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games held last fall, Kim Woo-min, who won three gold medals (800m freestyle, 800m men's relay), including reaching the top of the 400m freestyle, solidifying his position as 'Asia's best middle and long distance distance' ahead of the Doha World Championships, said, "Now I will compete at the World Championships and the Olympics as well.

“I want to stand on the podium,” he said.

Kim Woo-min exceeded his goal in Doha, and has now surpassed the best in Asia and emerged as a 'favorite to win the Paris Olympics.'

Many world-class swimming stars did not participate in the Doha World Championships due to 'preparation for the Paris Olympics'.

However, in the men's 400m freestyle, only gold medalist Samuel Short (Australia), who ranked 1st to 4th at the Fukuoka Games, did not participate.

Strong players such as Ahmed Hafnaoui (Tunisia), 2nd place in the Fukuoka Games and Tokyo Olympic champion, Martens, 3rd place in the Fukuoka Games, and Guillermi Costa (Brazil), 4th place, participated in this event.

Winnington is also the champion of this event at the 2022 Budapest Games.

Even in a place full of strong players, Kim Woo-min climbed to the highest point of the podium at the Doha Games, looked at the Taegeukgi and listened to the national anthem.