By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter
Park Tae-hwan is doing more than just winning his races at the FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Cup series short-course meet in Stockholm, Sweden.
He's dominating the rest of the field.
The 18-year-old South Korean swimming prodigy won two more events in convincing fashion on Wednesday, pulling away from the competition in the 1,500-meter freestyle and 200 freestyle. Those victories combined with his win a day earlier in the 400 freestyle gave Park three gold medals at the meet.
Park won the 1,500 in a time of 14 minutes, 36.42 seconds to finish more than 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Robert Margalis of the United States.
It was the fastest 1,500 time this year in the World Cup series, which started with a meet in Durban, South Africa, then featured a competition in Singapore and toured through Sydney, Australia, and Moscow. The World Cup series will conclude with a meet Saturday and Sunday in Berlin and a competition Nov. 24 and 25 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Just 10 minutes after Park finished the 1,500 _ the longest race at the meet _ on Wednesday, he was back in the pool to compete in the 200. Despite not having much time to rest between events, he won the 200 in 1:43.87, finishing more than a second ahead of second-place Paul Biedermann of Germany.
This happened a day after Park won the 400 in 3:42.14, more than two seconds ahead of his closest opponent.
Park's victories in Stockholm are the most recent accomplishments in what is turning into a stellar career. He was named Swimming World Magazine's Pacific Rim Male Swimmer of the Year in 2006, after winning three gold medals at the Asian Games and two golds at the Pam Pacific Championships that year. He's continued his strong swimming this year by winning a gold at the World Aquatics Championships and winning several races during the World Cup series.
Park, who holds many of South Korea's swimming records, hopes to add to his list of accomplishments at next year's Summer Olympics in Beijing.
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