Hwang Sunwoo Earns Korean National Sports Festival MVP (Meet Recap)

106th KOREAN NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL

• October 18th – October 23rd
• Busan Sajik Indoor Swimming Pool
• LCM (50m)
• Results

The 106th Korean National Sports Festival wrapped up today at Busan Sajik Indoor Swimming Pool with the six-day competition wreaking havoc on the country’s record board, primarily on the men’s side.

When all was said and done, 22-year-old Hwang Sunwoo was named MVP of the entire festival, with his performances highlighted by a monster effort in the men’s 200m free.

As we reported, the two-time Olympian ripped a new lifetime best and Asian continental record of 1:43.92, dipping under the 1:44 barrier for the first time in his career.

His time erased the former Asian benchmark of 1:44.39 once-banned Chinese superstar Sun Yang established at the 2017 World Championships.

On his achievement, Hwang stated through triumphant tears, “I have entered the 1:43 range that I desperately wanted. It’s one of the happiest moments in my life.”

Hwang was also impressive in his other events, helping the men’s 4x200m free relay notch a new competition standard of 7:12.65.

Hwang teamed up with 400m free Olympic bronze medalist Kim Woomin, Yang Jaehoon and Kim Youngbeom to get gold in the men’s 4x100m free, obliterating the former Korean benchmark of 3:12.96 put on the books en route to earning silver at the 2023 Asian Games.

While Hwang’s lead-off was impressive as the second-fastest time of his career, anchor Kim Youngbeom ripped a scorching 46.88.

Finally, Hwang notched a new lifetime best and national record of 1:57.66 in the 200m IM, with his time representing his first-ever foray under the 1:58 threshold.

Additional Records Broken

• Yang Jaehoon – men’s 100m fly Korean record (51.29)
• Kim Youngbeom – men’s 100m free Korean record (47.39)
• Lee Juho – men’s 200m back Korean record (1:55.60)
• Han Dakyung – women’s 400m free Korean record (4:09.69); women’s 800m free Korean record (8:36.78)
• Moon Sua – women’s 200m breast Korean record (2:23.21)

Additional Results

• Olympic bronze medalist Kim Woomin captured victories in both the men’s 1500m free and 400m free events. In the former, the 24-year-old nabbed gold in 15:50.54 to top the field by nearly 21 seconds. The shorter distance saw him clock 3:46.38 as the sole swimmer of the field to delve under the 3:50 barrier. He now ranks 3rd in the world on the season in the 4free.

• Park Junghun posted a winning effort of 1:55.50 in the men’s 200m butterfly, holding off national record holder Kim Minseop who settled for silver in 1:56.37. Park’s time crushed his previous best-ever effort of 1:56.92 from two years ago, rendering him Korea’s #2 performer of all time and the #2 performer in the world at the moment.