World Aquatics Championships Men’s 400m Freestyle Champion Kim Woo-min
Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) did not participate in the individual event, the 800m freestyle, to focus on the team event, the men’s 800m relay.
Kim Woo-min’s agency, All That Sports, said on the 13th, “Kim Woo-min is in a difficult state physically as he exerted a lot of effort in the men’s 400m freestyle. In order to focus on the 800m relay, we discussed with the coaches and decided not to participate in the 800m freestyle.”
At the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships being held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, Kim Woo-min was scheduled to participate in the 400m and 800m freestyle individual events and the 800m men’s relay team event.
On the 12th, he touched the pad in 3 minutes 42.71 seconds in the men’s 400m freestyle final, becoming the first gold medalist in the running event at this competition.
Kim Woo-min failed to break Park Tae-hwan’s Korean record of 3 minutes 41.53 seconds, but he climbed to the highest spot on the podium, beating his own best record (3 minutes 43.92 seconds) by 1.21 seconds.
He also had the honor of becoming the second Korean athlete to win a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships in 13 years, following Park Tae-hwan, who took first place in the men’s 400m freestyle at the 2007 Melbourne and 2011 Shanghai Games.
World Aquatics Championships Men’s 400m Freestyle Champion Kim Woo-min
Kim Woo-min was placed in Group 5 of the men’s 800m freestyle preliminary round on the 13th.
However, he chose not to participate right before the game.
Kim Woo-min holds the Korean record for the 800m freestyle (7 minutes 46.03 seconds).
No Korean athlete has yet reached the finals of the men’s 800m freestyle, which has been an official event at the World Championships since the 2001 Fukuoka Games.
Kim Woo-min also ranked 31st at the 2019 Gwangju Games (8 minutes 14.44 seconds), 14th place at the 2022 Budapest Games (7 minutes 53.27 seconds), and 14th at the 2023 Fukuoka Games (7 minutes 47.69 seconds).
At this competition, he attempted to break the Korean record in the men’s 800m freestyle and become the first Korean athlete to advance to the finals, but changed his plans to focus on challenging for a medal in the 800m relay.
The men’s 800m relay will have preliminary rounds on the afternoon of the 16th and finals on the morning of the 17th.
The Korean national team, which will consist of Kim Woo-min, Hwang Sun-woo (20, Gangwon Provincial Office), Lee Ho-jun (22, Jeju City Hall), and Lee Yu-yeon (23, Goyang City Hall), is considered a strong candidate to win this tournament. 고스톱