99TH KOREAN SPORTS FESTIVAL
- Saturday, October 13th – Thursday, October 18th (swimming portion)
- Eonbuk Iksan Ungpo, Korea
- LCM
- Day 1 Recap
- Results (Korean)
Korea’s biggest swimming star, Park Tae Hwan, was back in the Ungpo pool today for his first individual event, the men’s 200m freestyle. After helping power his Incheon squad to gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay last night, the 29-year-old followed up with a solid performance tonight to win the 200m free in 1:48.71.
Park was the only swimmer in the final to dip under the 1:50 threshold, so, although the 2008 Olympic champion expressed post-race disappointment with his time, he still did what was required to stand atop the podium. For perspective, Park won the 200m free Korean National title in 1:45.01 in 2016 and 1:46.23 in 2017.
Park admits that he has had little preparation for these Championships, having dropped out of this summer’s Asian Games just weeks before that prestigious continental meet. Of his withdrawal from Jakarta, Park said today, “[At the time] there was tension and stress overload. I wanted to show good things to the people, fans, and seniors, but I was not perfect. I was not 100% confident before the Asian Games.
“Since I have a lot of past Asian Games experience and I’m older, I thought it would be better to give other swimmers a chance to swim. A good experience of juniors can lead to the development of Korean swimming.”(Joong Ang Daily, Google translated)
As such, the last time Park Tae Hwan raced was at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara this past June.
Park will contest the 400m freestyle tomorrow, where he hopes to be more in-line with his low-to-mid 3:40’s that has been his performance marker in the past.
Additional Highlights:
- Lee Ju-ho took the men’s 100m back in a time of 54.73. He holds the national record with the 54.17 he clocked earlier this year.
- Lee Doo Hyung was the men’s 200m breaststroke winner, topping the field in 2:15.53.
- The women’s 200m breast saw Yang Jiwon snag the gold in 2:27.20. She finished 5th in this event at the 2017 World University Games.
- Olympian Cho Hyoun-Joo was tonight’s 200m freestyle winner for the women, stopping the clock with the only sub-2 minute effort of 1:59.86.
