19TH ASIAN GAMES
- Sunday, September 24th – Friday, September 29th (swimming)
- Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena, Hangzhou, China
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Results
Ahead of the 19th Asian Games, South Korea made no qualms about its goal of earning a potential first-ever gold in the men’s 4x200m free relay.
Entering Hangzhou, the best men’s 4x200m freestyle relay result achieved by the nation at an Asian Games was represented by a silver medal captured in 1994.
However, the quartet of Yang Jaehoon, Lee Hojoon, Kim Woomin and Hwang Sunwoo roared to the wall tonight to top the podium, producing a new Asian Record in the process.
Korea touched in a collective time of 7:01.73 to beat out runners-up China who settled for silver in 7:03.40 while Japan bagged bronze in 7:06.29.
En route to gold, Korea knocked 3 seconds off of his previous national standard and about half a second off of the longstanding Asian Record of 7:02.26 Japan put on the books at the 2009 World Championships.
However, the Korean men’s 4x200m free relay relay has been on the rise, making recent strides on the elite international stage. The team captured a 6th place finish at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest and 4th place at the 2022 Short Course World Championships, setting new national standards over each course.
After a training stint in Australia under the watchful eye of Richard Scarce, the foursome hit a new national record of 7:04.07 at this year’s World Championships. There in Fukuoka, they ultimately placed 6th. Had Korea produced its time of 7:01.73, they would have beaten Australia for the bronze.
| New Asian Record (KOR) | Old Asian Record (JPN) | Old Korean Record |
| Yang Jaehoon – 1:46.83 | Sho Uchida – 1:45.90 | Hwang Sunwoo – 1:46.35 |
| Lee Hojoon – 1:45.36 | Yoshihiro Okumura – 1:45.83 | Kim Woomin – 1:44.84 |
| Kim Woomin – 1:44.50 | Shogo Hihara – 1:45.99 | Yang Jaehoon – 1:48.35 |
| Hwang Sunwoo – 1:45.04 | Takeshi Matsuda – 1:44.54 | Lee Hojoon – 1:44.53 |
| 7:01.73 | 7:02.26 | 7:04.07 |
Hwang has already earned a bronze at this competition, placing 3rd in the 100m freestyle. Pan Zhanle of China won that race in a historic 46.97 and tonight the 19-year-old posted a 1:44.77 anchor on China’s relay to put Hwang on notice for the individual 200m free event.
Hojoon was seven-tenths slower than Worlds and Sunwoo can definitely improve on his split as it’s not even as fast as his flat start time. This is a 7:00-mid relay right now if everyone hits. With continued improvement by Jaehoon, they’re challenging for gold in Paris. From their improvements at World Juniors and WUGs, South Korea is on the rise in a big way.
It would be so cool to see them win gold in Paris!!! Rather unlikely at the moment, but I think the potential is there.
They’re so young….that’s what gives them hope.
Imagine all the hype between the US and GBR going after the WR only for South Korea to come in and take it from both of them. Would probably be the relay upset of the Olympics as of now
Damn they actually have 3 three 1:44s and the last guy (Yang 1:46) seems to be making good strides as well. Another challenger for the podium come Paris