2025 KOREAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, March 23rd – Friday, March 28th
- Gimcheon, South Korea
- LCM (50m)
- Recap #1/Recap #2/Recap #3
- Results
Day five of the 2025 Korean Swimming Championships unfolded from Gimcheon and we saw our first national record of the competition go down.
Racing in the final of the men’s 50m backstroke, Yoon Ji-hwan busted out a new lifetime best of 24.48 to take the gold.
Yoon, who turned 19 years old in January, clocked the sole time of the field under the 25-second barrier. Lee Ju-ho snagged the silver in 25.12 and Song Im-gyu rounded out the podium in 25.37.
Yoon’s 24.48 outing overtook the previous national record of 24.67 he put on the books at the Korean National Sports Festival last October to rank 3rd in the world on the season.
The teen’s performance tonight easily dipped under the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 25.11 needed to qualify for this summer’s World Championships.
Yoon’s new national record now ranks him as the 3rd-swiftest Asian 50m backstroke performer in history.
Top 5 Asian Men’s LCM 50 Backstroke Performers All-Time
- Junya Koga (JPN) – 24.24, 2009
- Xu Jiayu (CHN) – 24.38, 2023
- Yoon Ji-hwan (KOR) – 24.48, 2025
- Sun Xiaolei (CHN) – 24.76, 2013
- Junya Hasegawa (JPN) – 24.78, 2017
Looking at the season’s world rankings, Yoon now froghops Polish ace Ksawery Masiuk to rank #2 in the world behind American Shaine Casas.
2024-2025 LCM Men 50 Back
Casas
24.23
| 2 | Yoon Ji-hwan | KOR | 24.48 | 03/27 |
| 3 | Ksawery Masiuk | POL | 24.60 | 03/16 |
| 4 | Oliver Morgan | GBR | 24.77 | 02/16 |
| 5 | Pavel Samusenko | RUS | 24.78 | 02/19 |
