Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) won a silver medal in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle.
He’ll have to wait for another chance to win his first individual gold medal, but he’s still got a good chance at a triple.
Kim Woo-min finished second in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle final in 15:01.07 at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, on Saturday.
He set a new personal best (15:02.96) based on the International Swimming Federation standard, but was unable to improve on his domestic best (14:54.25) and lost the top spot.
In the 1,500-meter freestyle, Fei Liwei (20-China) touched the touchpad 5.60 seconds ahead of Kim in 14:55.47.
Kim held off a late charge from third-place Shogo Takeda (28-JP) to finish second. Takeda’s time was 15:03.29.
Despite missing out on the win, Kim became the first South Korean to medal in the men’s 1,500 meters at an Asian Games in 13 years since Park Tae-hwan (first in Doha 2006 and second in Guangzhou 2010).
After leading the race through 400 meters, Kim lost the lead to Fei Liwei at the 450-meter mark.
At 1,000 meters, the gap between Fei Liwei (9:56.18) and Kim Woo-min (9:56.74) was 0.56 seconds, effectively ending the gold medal race.
Kim, who teamed with Hwang Sun-woo, Yang Jae-hoon (Gangwon Province) and Lee Ho-joon (Daegu Metropolitan City) in the men’s 800-meter freestyle relay the previous day to win Korea’s first team gold medal at an Asian Games, will compete in the 800-meter freestyle on Monday and the 400-meter freestyle on Tuesday to complete the trifecta.
The 1,500-meter freestyle is the one event where Kim is not confident of winning gold.
However, in the 800m and 400m freestyle, he is the strongest contender.
“I didn’t achieve my goal of winning four medals, but I’m still satisfied with the result of the 1,500-meter silver medal,” Kim said after the race, promising to focus more on the remaining events and show a good performance. 토토사이트