Hwang Sun-woo wins gold in 200-meter freestyle with new Asian record

Hwang Sun-woo defended his title in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships on Sunday, setting a new Asian record in the process.

Hwang Sun-woo, center, celebrates winning the gold medal in the men's 200-meter freestyle final at the 2022 FINA World Swimming Championships alongside second placed David Popovici of Romania, left, and third placed Tom Dean of Britain at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Melbourne. [EPA/YONHAP]

Hwang Sun-woo competes in the men's 200-meter freestyle final at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Melbourne on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Hwang Sun-woo defended his title in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships on Sunday, setting a new Asian record in the process.

The win saw Hwang defend a title set almost exactly a year ago, on Dec. 17, 2021, when he won his first-ever gold medal at a major FINA competition in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates with a time of 1:41.60. The Short Course Championships take place in 25 meter (82 foot) pools, half the length of an Olympic-sized pool.

This year, at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Melbourne, Hwang touched the pad first with an even shorter time of 1:39.72, 1.07 seconds ahead of silver medalist David Popovici of Romania and 1.14 seconds ahead of bronze medalist of Tom Dean of Britain, setting a new Asian record.

The title defense came against some incredibly stiff competition. Popovici was the 200-meter freestyle gold medalist at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest on June 20, while Dean is the reigning Olympic champion after winning the 200-meter freestyle gold medal at the Tokyo Summer Games.

Not only did Hwang win gold and set an Asian record, but he also had to overcome an injury sustained while touching the pad during the heats.

"I hurt my index and middle finger during the heats," said Hwang after the race on Sunday. "They were badly bruised and bloated. I was in a lot of pain so my coaches tried to dissuade me from competing."

Hwang decided not to withdraw from the tournament, opting for pain relief medication instead.

"I thought of giving up," said Hwang. "But I had qualified so narrowly as eighth, so I just thought to myself that I should try until the very end and do the best that I could. I am satisfied with the results."

Hwang was also the fastest swimmer of Team Korea in the men's 4x200 meter freestyle relay on Friday. The team finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a medal but marking Korea's best finish.

Hwang swam the first 200 meters for Korea with a time of 1:40.99, a new Asian record at the time before he shaved off 1.27 seconds on Sunday.

The four Korean swimmers, Hwang, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Yang Jae-hoon finished with a time of 6:49.67, 5.55 seconds behind the gold medalist United States, who set a world record on Friday with a record of 6:44.12.

Hwang's time on Friday had already broken Korean swimming star Park Tae-hwan's Asian record of 1:41:03 set at the 2016 World Championships. Park was the first Korean to medal at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships after winning three gold medals in the men's 200 meter, 400 meter and 1,500 meter in 2016. Five years later in 2021, Hwang became the second Korean to medal at the event.

His new Asian record set on Sunday is just 0.35 seconds shy of the world record time of 1:39.37 set by Paul Biedermann of Germany in 2009. Biedermann's record was set during a time when the now banned full-body swimming suits, the so-called super-suits, were allowed.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]