SEOUL, At the ripe age of 20, Hwang Sun-woo has already made plenty of South Korean swimming history. He added another feather to his cap in Doha on Tuesday (local time), as he earned the gold medal in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships. By touching the pad in 1:44.75, Hwang became the first South Korean swimmer to win a medal at three world championships in a row. He won silver in 2022 and bronze in 2023. Hwang has also tied Park Tae-hwan for most world championships medals by a South Korean swimmer. Park won 400m freestyle gold medals in 2007 and 2011, and also grabbed silver in the 200m freestyle in 2007. Hwang will have a shot at breaking the tie with Park on the weekend in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay. Among Hwang's teammates will be Kim Woo-min, the 400m freestyle champion in Doha from Sunday. Hwang entered the national consciousness during the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. As a raw 18-year-old, Hwang set an Asian record in the 100m freestyle with 47.56 seconds in the semifinals, and became the first Asian swimmer to reach the final in that race since 1956. But he posted a worse time in the final, with 47.82 seconds, to finish in fifth place. In the 200m final, Hwang was on a world record pace at the halfway turn and remained in the lead with 50m to go. But he faded away badly over the home stretch and ended up in seventh place with 1:45.26. Hwang's time from the heats, 1:44.62, was the new world junior record and would have been good enough for the bronze medal in the final. The inexperienced teen failed to manage his races in Tokyo but these performances provided a glimpse into things to come. Less than a year later in Budapest, Hwang captured world championship silver in the men's 200m freestyle. He followed that up with bronze in July 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan, with a national record of 1:44.42. In September 2023, Hwang made his first Asian Games a memorable one, grabbing six medals -- two each of gold, silver and bronze. In winning the 200m freestyle gold, Hwa ng broke his own national record by 0.02 second. He reached the podium in every race he entered, and his six medals were the second most by a South Korean swimmer at a single Asiad, behind only Park Tae-hwan's seven medals, first in 2006 and again in 2010. Cynics may attach an asterisk to Hwang's victory in Doha because neither of the past two world champions, David Popovici of Romania and Matthew Richards of Britain, competed in the 200m freestyle. Popovici is one of many top-notch swimmers skipping this year's worlds to focus on the Paris Summer Olympics in July. Richards is in Doha but he chose to sit out the 200m freestyle and instead will only race in the 100m freestyle. They will be on a collision course in Paris this summer, with Tom Dean, the reigning Olympic champion and the 2023 world silver medalist, also likely in contention after skipping the Doha race. It will be an opportunity for Hwang to prove he can compete against the best and still come out on top. Park remains the only South Korean sw immer to have won an Olympic medal, with his 400m freestyle gold and 200m freestyle silver in 2008, and silver medals in both races in 2012. Source: Yonhap News Agency