Hwang Sunwoo, Baek Inchul Snag Victories At Korean National Meet

KOREAN NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION MEET

• Thursday, November 23rd – Tuesday, November 28th
• Gimcheon Indoor Swimming Pool
• LCM (50m)
• 2024 World Championships Selection Meet
• Recap #1/Recap #2
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 2023 Korean National Team Selection Meet continued on from Gimcheon with swimmers vying for spots on the nation’s roster for next year’s World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

One man who punched his ticket was Baek Inchul, the reigning Asian Games champion in the 50m fly event.

Taking on that signature race, Baek stopped the clock at 23.48, a time within .20 of the 23.29 Games Record he produced in Hangzhou.

Post-race, Baek said, “Not my personal best, but I am proud of myself for qualifying with an A standard time. In Doha, I hope to be faster and rank higher than I was in Fukuoka.”

Baek placed 23rd in the 50m fly in Fukuoka in a time of 23.50, although his national record and career-best were lowered to 23.15 at October’s Korean National Sports Festival.

Also making some noise was Lee Juho en route to doubling up on his 200m back victory from earlier in the competition.

Lee posted a winning effort of 53.56 to add another event to his Doha lineup, just off his Korean standard of 53.32 notched earlier this year.

“I was hoping to set a new national record in the 100m too, but it’s a shame that my old habits came out,” Lee stated after earning gold.

Upsetting Lee the next day in the 50m back was 17-year-old World Junior Swimming Championships finalist Yoon Jihwan.

Yoon got to the wall in a result of 24.96, falling only .03 shy of the Korean national record that’s been on the books since 2018. Yoon’s effort overtook his previous lifetime best of 25.25 from placing 5th in Netanya. The teen sits just outside the list of top 5 performers in the world this season.

Yoon commented on his performance, “I really wanted to break the national record so I am slightly disappointed, but am glad to swim under 25 seconds and qualify for Doha.”

Hwang Sunwoo took on his pet event of the 200m freestyle event and wound up with the gold.

The World Championships medalist produced an effort of 1:45.68 to beat out teammates in Kim Woomin and Lee Hojun. The former settled for silver in 1:46.06 while the latter rounded out the podium in 1:46.07.

Hwang already ranks #1 in the world this season, courtesy of the 1:44.40 outing he logged en route to gold at this year’s Asian Games.