Korean swimming star Hwang Sun-woo (20, Gangwon Provincial Office) took second place overall in the semifinals and advanced to the finals of the men’s 200m freestyle at the World Championships for the third time in a row. Sunwoo Hwang hit the touch pad in 1 minute 45.15 seconds in the men’s 200m freestyle semifinals at the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on the 13th (Korean time).Sunwoo Hwang, who competed in Group 2 of the semifinals, took second place after Danas Rapsis (Lithuania), who finished the race in 1 minute 44.96 seconds. He was also 2nd out of 16 participants in the semifinals. Hwang Seon-woo, who placed 11th out of 67 people with a time of 1 minute 46.99 seconds in the preliminaries, increased his speed in the semifinals and easily advanced to the finals. The men’s 200m freestyle final begins at 1:02 a.m. on the 14th, Korean time.
After the semifinals, Hwang Sun-woo said through his management company All That Sports, “I was worried a lot during the preliminaries because my physical condition was not as good as I thought, but in the semifinals, I was more satisfied with my record and race,” and “I advanced to the finals of the World Championships for the third time in a row. “So, I have a strong desire to get on the podium for the third time in a row. I want to do well in the final race based on what I have accumulated during the month-long training camp in Australia,” he said. Sunwoo Hwang took second place (1 minute 44.47 seconds) at the 2022 Budapest competition and third place (1 minute 44.42 seconds) at the 2023 Fukuoka competition. Every time he competed in the 200m freestyle finals at the World Championships, he set a new Korean record. The current Korean record is 1 minute, 44.40 seconds, set by Hwang Sun-woo when he won the gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last fall .If the Korean record is broken at this year’s Doha Games, it will also be possible to surpass the Asian record (1 minute 44.39 seconds) held by Sun Yang (China).
Sunwoo Hwang is also a candidate to win the Doha competition, recognized by the International Swimming Federation and major foreign media .David Popovic (Romania), who won over Hwang Sun-woo in Budapest in 2022, Matthew Richards, who won first place in the 2023 Fukuoka Games, and Tom Dean (Great Britain), who ranked second, did not participate in the 200m freestyle at the Doha Games, reducing the number of competitors. Previously, Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) won the gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle at this competition, and if Hwang Sunwoo wins the 200m freestyle on the 14th, Korean swimming will write a new history by winning two or more gold medals in a single world championship for the first time .Hwang Sun-woo set his primary goal as the first Korean swimmer to win medals at the World Championships three times in a row, but Korean swimmers look forward to his golden comeback .Lee Ho-jun (22, Jeju City Hall), who reached the finals in Fukuoka last year with Hwang Seon-woo and placed 6th, failed to advance to the finals in this competition as he finished 15th overall in the semifinals with a time of 1 minute 47.38 seconds .Lucas Martens (Germany), who took third place in the 400m freestyle, took third place in the semifinals of the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:45.21, and Luke Hobson (USA) took fourth place with a time of 1:45.53.Elijah Winnington (Australia), the silver medalist in the 400m freestyle at this competition, advanced to the 스포츠토토존 finals in 5th place with a time of 1:45.90.