Korea’s Lee Juho Notches 53.71 100 Back National Record To Qualify For Tokyo

11th GIMCHEON NATIONAL SWIMMING COMPETITION (KOR)

• March 27th – April 1st
• Gimcheon, South Korea
• LCM (50m)
• Results

Lee Juho of Korea took down his nation’s record in the men’s 100m backstroke tonight, qualifying for this summer’s Olympic Games in the process.

While competing at the 11th Gimcheon National Swimming Competition, the 26-year-old athlete punched a time of 53.71 to take 1back gold, beating the field by over 2 seconds. Although splits are not yet available, Lee’s time represents his first-ever outing under the 54-second barrier. Entering this competition, the man’s previous national record stood at the 54.17 he produced at Korean Trials in 2018. He would go on to take bronze at that year’s Asian Games in 54.52.

As such, Lee’s 53.71 monster effort here not only hacks nearly half a second off his previous lifetime best but it also outright clears the FINA ‘A’ cut of 53.85 needed for the postponed Olympic Games.

The previous night here in Gimcheon, Lee posted a 200m back tie of 1:59.55 to clock a new meet record. That was off his season-best of 1:57.06 he logged last November at National Team Trials. That time dipped under the FINA ‘A’ cut of 1:57.50, meaning Lee has now qualified for both the 100m and 200m backstroke events for Tokyo.