South Korea qualified for the final of the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay swimming at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, the country’s first-ever appearance in a relay medal race.
The quartet of Lee Ho-joon, Lee Yoo-yeon, Kim Yeong-hyeon and Kim Woo-min finished seventh overall in the heats with a time of 7:07.96 at Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, to punch their ticket to the final scheduled for Tuesday night. The top eight teams from the heats qualified for the final, and there will be nine teams this time after Israel and Japan finished tied for eighth in 7:08.43.
Britain won the heats in 7:05.11. The United States, France, Australia, Germany and China also reached the final.
South Korea finished fourth in Heat 1. The team was in sixth place at the 600m turn but Kim Woo-min, the bronze medalist in the 400m freestyle on Saturday, anchored the team to fourth place.
Kim had the fastest 200m split on the team with 1:45.59.
Lee Ho-joon led off with a split of 1:46.53, putting South Korea
in third after the opening 200m. Lee Yoo-yeon covered the next 200m in 1:47.58 as South Korea dropped to sixth. South Korea fell to seventh place during Kim Yeong-hyeon’s third leg but he ended up touching the pad with the team in sixth, after a split of 1:48.26.
Kim Woo-min said afterward he was a bit concerned about South Korea’s gap with the leading countries but his confidence didn’t waver.
“I felt we could still get to the final if I could make up some ground,” Kim said. “Other swimmers came into my view over the final 100m and I tried to find another gear.”
South Korea will swim in Lane 1 in the final. Kim, noting that he had won his 400m freestyle bronze from Lane 1, said, “This is destiny.”
“I am so happy to realize the dream of finally making the relay final,” he added. “It wasn’t easy to get there but we’ll try to do better in the final.”
Lee Ho-joon said his was pleased with his leadoff split.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d be a little rusty but I put up a solid time,” he said. “I should feel even bet
ter for the final and the time will be better, too.”
For the final, South Korea will bring back Hwang Sun-woo, the reigning 200m freestyle world champion.
Hwang had competed in the 100m freestyle heats earlier Tuesday and sat out the relay heats. After the team reached the final without him, Hwang withdrew from the 100m freestyle semifinals to focus on the relay final, which are scheduled less than two hours apart.
At this year’s worlds in Qatar, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon, Yang Jae-hoon and Hwang won a historic silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay — South Korea’s first relay medal at a world championship. These four will be reunited for the final here.
Source: Yonhap News Agency