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
- Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Day 5 Finals Live Recap
Swimming action at the 19th Asian Games concluded tonight from Hangzhou, with the host nation landing atop the medal table. However, runner-up status went to Korea, with the country beating out rivals Japan for the first time ever.
This year, China overwhelmingly beat out the competition, amassing 58 pieces of hardware in all, including 28 golds, 21 silvers and 9 bronze.
Korea was next, collecting 22 medals including 6 golds, which gave the nation the nod ahead of Japan who scored 5 golds.
Zhang Yufei was the most successful Chinese swimmer, securing 6 golds in all. The Olympic multi-medalist topped the women’s individual 50m free, 50m fly, 100m fly and 200m fly podiums while also contributing to her nation’s women’s 4x100m free relay and mixed 4x100m medley relay golds.
Qin Haiyang of China completed his sweep of the breaststroke events while teammate Xu Jiayu accomplished the same feat in the men’s backstroke races. Li Bingjie also scored a series of victories, topping the women’s 400m, 800m and 1500m free podiums, while Yu Yiting doubled up with 200m IM and 400m IM gold medals.
Korea’s biggest successes came on the men’s side, as Hwang Sunwoo snagged gold in the 200m free and was also a member of his nation’s first-ever gold medal-worthy 4x200m free relay.
But Korean Kim Woomin earned a duo of golds by himself, topping the men’s 400m and 800m freestyle podiums.
Final Swimming Medal Table
Current All-Sports Medal Table (Top 10)
China’s dominance in swimming at the 19th Asian Games was unparalleled, with 58 medals, including 28 golds. Notably, Korea outperformed Japan, achieving runner-up status for the first time ever, showcasing their remarkable progress in the sport. It was a thrilling event with standout performances from athletes like Zhang Yufei and Hwang Sunwoo, making it a memorable competition.
Japan’s problem is they have a bunch of older swimmers who are still carrying the banner but said swimmers (ages 28+) are no longer at their peak and can’t contest with the younger generation from other countries, and they don’t have many promising young swimmers to succeed them. Honda is the one from the younger generation who seems to be on the job but he faces Milak and Marchand in his best event so even he is only fighting for Bronze most of the time
Go Korea! Great to see the depth and quality, particularly in men’s freestyle. Excited to see how they do in Paris next year. A medal in 4×200 would be huge.