Korean swimmers looking to defend world titles in Singapore
Members of the Korean men's swimming team pose together at Incheon International Airport, before departing for Singapore for the world championships, Thursday. Yonhap
Led by a pair of defending champions, the Korean national swimming team departed for Singapore on Thursday for the upcoming world championships.
Hwang Sun-woo, the 2024 world champion in the men's 200-meter freestyle, and Kim Woo-min, the reigning men's 400m freestyle champion, will headline the team, with the races scheduled to begin Sunday.
Kim will get the ball rolling in the heats and the final in the 400m set for Sunday. Hwang's quest for his second straight gold in the 200m freestyle will begin with the heats and the semifinals Monday and then the final Tuesday.
Those two will then join teammates Lee Ho-joon and Kim Young-beom in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay Aug. 1.
In the 200m, Hwang won silver in 2022 and bronze in 2023 before reaching the top of the podium in 2024. He is the only Korean swimmer to win a medal at three consecutive world championships and will try to make it four in a row.
"I've made the podium at world championships every year since 2022, and I'd love to be back on it this time," Hwang told reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, before his flight. "We've also worked hard for the relay event."
Members of the Korean national swimming team pose at Incheon International Airport, before departing for Singapore for the world championships, Thursday. Yonhap
In Doha last year, Hwang and Kim became the first pair of Korean teammates to win world titles. Kim said he will try to pull off that double again.
"It was such a great feeling to have both of us win gold medals last year," he said. "We're going to be roommates for the second straight year, and hopefully, we will get to take selfies with gold medals around our necks once again."
Hwang and Kim teamed up with Lee and Yang Jae-hoon for the relay silver in Doha for Korea's first-ever world championships medal in a relay. This time, the rising star Kim Young-beom, 19, will be the fourth member of the team.
The teenager made headlines July 8, when he declared his goal in Singapore was to break the world record in the 4x200m relay.
The world record time is 6:58.55, set by the United States during the 2009 worlds at the height of high-tech, full-body swimsuits that led to many other world records. Most of the marks set at the 2009 world championships have not been touched.
The Korean national record is 7:01.73, set during the 2023 Asian Games by Hwang, Yang, Lee Ho-joon and Kim Woo-min.
"Since I stated my goal, I've been working even harder," Kim Young-beom said. "I have a different mindset going into this competition than other events from the past. I will try to bring home great results."
Kim's teammates have been inspired by the brash youngster.
"Honestly, I'd lost a bit of passion for the relay after the Paris Olympics," Kim Woo-min said. "But with Young-beom swimming so well lately, it has rekindled my fire."