Park Tae-hwan competes in the final of the men’s 800-meter freestyle at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday. / AP-Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

Park Tae-hwan topped the men’s 800-meter freestyle and set a new Korean record at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix in California, Thursday.

The 22-year-old defending Olympic champion in the 400-meter freestyle touched the pad first in 7 minutes, 52.07 seconds to better his old Korean record of 7:53.07, set in 2006.

This record, the fourth-fasted time in the world this year, also eclipsed Canadian Ryan Cochrane’s old meet mark of 7:52.18, set last year.

Cochrane came in second at 7:57.19, while Australia’s Ryan Napoleon finished third with a time of 7:59.10.

“The 800 meters is not an Olympic event, but I participated in the race because I believe that it helps me prepare for the 200- and 400-meter races,” Park told reporters.

Last week, Park competed at the Mel Zajac Jr. International Canada Cup in Vancouver and won two gold medals in the 200 and 400 on his way to becoming the MVP at the contest.

Park said, “As I arrived here yesterday from Canada, I was not fully match fit before the race,” but he still won.

Park will compete in the 400 and 100 meters on Saturday and the 200 meters on Sunday.

Last year, he claimed three gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400 meters — defeating U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps in the 100.