S. Korea wins bronze in men's medley relay swimming
From left, Korean swimmers Kim Young-beom, Yang Jae-hoon, Choi Dong-yeol and Lee Ju-ho pose after winning bronze in the men's 4x100-meter medley relay event during the Asian Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Ha Sang-yun
TOKYO — South Korea grabbed bronze in the men's 4x100-meter medley relay swimming race at the Asian Games on Tuesday with a new national record, as its anchor Kim Young-beom collected his third medal in three days in Tokyo.
The quartet of Lee Ju-ho, Choi Dong-yeol, Yang Jae-hoon and Kim clocked 3:31.97 in the final at Tokyo Aquatics Centre, as South Korea placed third behind China (3:27.89) and Japan (3:28.70).
The previous national record was 3:32.05, set when South Korea won silver at the 2023 Asiad. Lee, Choi, Kim and Hwang Sun-woo raced in the final then.
This was an entirely different lineup than the one that swam in the heats, when Yoon Ji-hwan, Cho Sung-jae, Kim Ji-hun and Hwang represented South Korea.
These four also received bronze medals. It was also Hwang's third medal of the competition, after he won bronze in the 100m freestyle on Sunday and another bronze in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay on Monday.
In the medley relay, swimmers each covered 100m in the following order of styles: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Lee covered his backstroke leg in 53.92 seconds to put South Korea in third, and that is where the team remained the rest of the way.
Choi posted a breaststroke split of 58.98, and Yang followed with 51.58 in butterfly. Kim brought South Korea home in 47.49.