Brash teen swimmer takes aim at relay world record

Members of the Korean men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay swimming team pose for photos after their press conference at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, July 8. Yonhap

At the tender age of 19, Korean swimmer Kim Young-beom is nothing if not confident.

One may chalk it up to youthful chutzpah, as Kim declared Tuesday his goal for the upcoming world championships is to break the world record in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay.

Kim will be teaming up with veterans Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min and Lee Ho-joon in the relay. The three raced to silver medal at last year's world championships in Doha with Yang Jae-hoon as the fourth member with a time of 7:01.94, only 0.10 second back of China. The quartet owns the national record time of 7:01.73, set during the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

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.

But Kim, who has emerged as the new star in Korean swimming this year, voiced confidence the relay record could tumble at this year's worlds in Singapore, starting July 27.

For Korea to get into the record books, Kim would have to put up a split time under 1:45:00, which he said is "certainly doable."

"I think I can go even faster than that," he said at a joint press conference with his teammates at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, some 85 kilometers south of Seoul. "That's why I've set this goal."

After listening to his teammate's announcement, Hwang, the defending world champion in the 200m freestyle, said with a smile, "I don't think we talked about this beforehand."

Hwang did say, however, it will be "a dream come true" to set the world record in the relay and he and his teammates are working hard toward that.

"If we can each set our personal best times in splits, then we can definitely set the world record," Hwang said. "Young-beom has the potential to get into the 1:44 range. He only started competing in the 200m freestyle this year and he's been improving rapidly."

Kim Woo-min, the defending 400m world champion, said he has been feeding off Kim Young-beom's confident energy in training.

"I must say I am a bit shocked that he mentioned the world record here," Woo-min said with a smile. "But his energy rubs off on all of us. And setting the world record isn't just a pipe dream for us."

Kim Young-beom owns the national record in the 100m butterfly with 51.56 seconds but he will forego his main event in Singapore to focus on the relay.

Kim Woo-min, who previously competed in the 400m and the 800m, will only race in the 400m this time so that he, too, can concentrate on the relay.

"The relay is taking up a huge part of our overall preparations," Woo-min said. "It was disappointing to come up just short of the gold at last year's competition, but it felt great to stand on the podium together and we all want to enjoy that feeling again."

Hwang, who has won three individual medals and one relay medal in his world championships career, said grabbing a medal with teammates is more gratifying than doing so alone.

"As good as individual medals are, I really enjoyed reaching the podium with my team last year," Hwang said. "The relay brings us all together and I love our camaraderie."