Battle Is Brewing In Men’s 200 Free On Day 4 Of Korean Olympic Trials

2024 KOREAN OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Friday, March 22nd – Wednesday, March 27th, Korea
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
• Results
• Livestream

Day four of the 2024 Korean Olympic Trials failed to bring about any new qualifiers for the Paris Games, although a battle is brewing in the men’s 200m free.

On the heels of Korea earning its first-ever World Championships medal this year in Doha, the men set themselves up on the heats of the individual 200m free tonight.

Leading the way is Lee Hojun who earned the top seed in a time of 1:46.52 to stake his claim on a potential Olympic bid. His effort already falls within striking distance of his best-ever performance. That stands at the 1:45.56 notched at last year’s Asian Games to become Korea’s #3 performer all-time.

Kim Woomin, the reigning 400m free world champion, was next in the heats, producing a time of 1:46.91 as the only other sub-1:47 swimmer.

Kim also ranks among the fastest-ever Koreans, holding a personal best of 1:46.06 from last November.

Kim Younghyun captured the 3rd seed in 1:48.26 while reigning World Championships gold medalist in the event, Hwang Sunwoo, slid into tomorrow night’s final with a prelims result of 1:48.51.

Top 5 Korean Men’s LCM 200 Freestyle Performers All-Time

1. Hwang Sunwoo – 1:44.40, 2023
2. Park Taehwan – 1:44.80, 2010
3. Lee Hojoon – 1:45.56, 2023
4. Kim Woomin – 1:46.06, 2023
5. Yang Jaehoon – 1:46.83, 2023

In finals tonight, Lee Juho punched a result of 53.84 to take the men’s 100m back. That checked in about half a second away from his lifetime best and Korean national record of 53.32 put on the books in 2022.

Lee needed a minimum of 53.74 in order to meet the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 53.74.

However, Lee produced a result of 53.54 en route to earning bronze at last year’s Asian Games so his ticket is punched. He already earned a Paris bid in the 200m back earlier in this competition (1:56.62).

As a refresher, the top 2 finishers at these Trials qualify for Paris provided they meet or exceed the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time. However, the Korean Swimming Federation (KSF) High-Performance Committee decided that if a winner here finishes with a slower time than the OQT, but already earned a valid time within the period (March 1, 2023 to June 23, 2024), he/she still qualifies for the Olympics.

Eunji Lee, the newly-minted Korean national record holder in the 200m back here, earned 100m back gold in 1:00.45. She needed 59.99 to meet the Olympic standard for Paris. She owns the national record at the 1:00.03 put up for bronze at last year’s Asian Games.

Baek In-cheol logged a result of 23.65 to win the men’s 50m fly final, followed by Ji Yu-chan who touched in 23.86.

The women’s 50m fly saw Jeong So-eun get it done for gold in 26.68.

Korean Olympic Qualifiers Through Day 4 of Trials

• Kim Woomin – Men’s 1500m free, 14:58.03
• Lee Juho – Men’s 200m back, 1:56.52; 100m back, 53.54 *From Asian Games
• Lee Eunji – Women’s 200m back, 2:09.88
• Choi Dong-yeol – Men’s 100m breast, 59.28 *From Asian Games
• Kim Minseop – Men’s 200m fly, 1:54.95
• Kim Seoyeong – Women’s 200m IM, 2:10.36 *From Asian Games
• Hwang Sunwoo – Men’s 100m free, 48.28