2025 KOREAN NATIONAL TEAM TRIALS
- Tuesday, November 4th – Sunday, November 9th
- Gimcheon Indoor Swimming Pool
- LCM (50m)
- Results
The 2025 Korean National Team Trials kicked off this week with our first finals session unfolding tonight from the Gimcheon Indoor Swimming Pool.
Olympic finalist and world champion Hwang Sunwoo was in the water for his first event of the men’s 50m freestyle, although the 22-year-old was forced to settle for the silver medal.
Hwang touched in a time of 22.34 to get to the wall a hair behind winner Ji Yuchan who topped the podium in 22.15. Kim Minjun rounded out the top three in 22.79.
Ji is Korea’s splash n’ dash national record holder, establishing a new lifetime best of 21.66 in a swim-off at this year’s World Championships. Hwang’s 22.34 outing was just .11 outside his career-swiftest result of 22.23 from the 2021 edition of this competition.
Ji now ranks 2nd in the world on the season.
2025-2026 LCM Men 50 FREE
McEvoy
WR 20.88
| 2 | Egor KORNEV | RUS | 21.06 | 06/09 |
| 3 | Quintin McCarty | USA | 21.43 | 05/24 |
| 3 | Chris GUILIANO | USA | 21.43 | 03/07 |
| 5 | Andrej BARNA | SRB | 21.48 | 05/23 |
The reigning Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s 400m free, Kim Woomin, took on the 1500m freestyle where he handily defeated his competitors with a gold medal-worthy time of 15:03.43.
The next-closest swimmer was Won June who hit 15:35.80 as the runner-up while Kim Younghyun also landed on the podium in 15:48.05, good enough for bronze.
Kim’s performance was within striking distance of his best-ever 14:54.25, the result he notched at the 2022 Korean Sports Festival. Only Olympian Park Tae Hwan has been faster for the nation, owning the Korean standard at 14:47.38 from 2012.
Kim dethrones Japan’s Raito Tsujimura as the #1 performer in the world this season.
2025-2026 LCM Men 1500 FREE
Liebmann
14:39.67
| 2 | Sven Schwarz | GER | 14:40.93 | 04/17 |
| 3 | Oliver Klemet | GER | 14:41.71 | 04/10 |
| 4 | Samuel SHORT | AUS | 14:42.09 | 06/12 |
| 5 | KAITO TABUCHI | JPN | 14:45.57 | 03/22 |
The men’s 200m backstroke saw national record holder Lee Juho get it done for gold, with the 30-year-old veteran putting up a solid swim of 1:55.61. That represented the sole outing of the field to break the 2:00 barrier.
Lee Hyuk logged 2:00.22 as the silver medalist and Lee Yehyeon bagged the bronze in 2:04.22.
Lee’s time was just .01 outside of the newly-minted 1:55.60 national record he put on the books last month at the Korean National Sports Festival to check in as the 2nd-best swimmer in the world at the moment.
2025-2026 LCM Men 200 BACK
SISKOS
1:54.12
| 2 | Hubert Kos | HUN | 1:54.21 | 12/06 |
| 3 | Pieter Coetze | RSA | 1:55.26 | 04/18 |
| 4 | Lee Juho | KOR | 1:55.34 | 12/16 |
| 5 | Roman MITYUKOV | SUI | 1:55.36 | 04/11 |
On the women’s side, Kim Seungwon was too quick to catch in the women’s 200m backstroke, posting an effort of 2:10.59 for the gold. That is a new lifetime best, inserting Kim into the all-time Korean performers list in slot #3.
Kim Chanyoung produced a time of 2:11.36 for silver and Kim Yeun also landed on the podium in 2:23.48.
Kim Yunhee dipped under the 2:10 barrier en route to taking the women’s 200m fly.
Kim touched in 2:09.39 to beat the field by nearly two seconds, with Park Soojin next to the wall in 2:11.34. Lee Hee-eun registered 2:12.58 to place 3rd in the final.
Additional Notes
- National record holder Choi Dongyeol turned in the sole sub-minute effort of the men’s 100m breaststroke pace, hitting 59.60. That was within range of the Korean benchmark of 59.28 he produced for bronze at the 2023 Asian Games.
- The men’s 200m fly saw Kim Minseop grab the gold in a time of 1:56.85. He’s been as quick as 1:54.95, the national record he notched at last year’s Korean Nationals.
- Hur Yeonkyung put up an outing of 25.29 to dominate the women’s 50m freestyle main event. She touched nearly a second ahead of the field.
- Park Si-eun was another clear winner on the evening, registering 1:09.30 for 100m breaststroke gold.
