Park Tae Hwan has left himself one win shy of a straight-flush at the 2014 South Korean National Championships in Gincheon. On Saturday, he took the men’s 100 free title in 48.68.
Park has been locked-in so far at this meet, going lifetime and season bests left-and-right, though this one didn’t fall under that category. He was faster at the New South Wales State Championships in Australia, where he’s been training, earlier this year (48.42). The swim did, however, get Park his spot at the Asiad later this year, ahead of Gim Seong Yeon (50.74) and Bak Seong Wan (50.97).
The potential South Korea relay, however, is in good shape to repeat their bronze medal performance behind China and Japan, who barring a DQ (China’s medley did in 2010) will have the top two spots. The biggest challenger will probably be a young, rising Hong Kong squad, or perhaps Kazakhstan.
Park now gets a day to rest before venturing into relatively uncharted waters with a 400 IM on Monday.
Jang Gyu Cheol impressed on Saturday as well, swimming a 1:59.67 in the men’s 200 fly.
