Park Jae-hun takes bronze in newly-added marathon swimming event

Park Jae-hun finished third in the men’s 10-kilometer marathon swimming race on Saturday morning, edging out the competition by just nine seconds to claim the bronze medal.

Swimmers take their mark at the start of the men's 10-kilometer marathon swimming race at the Swimming Course in Chun'an, China on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Park Jae-hun finished third in the men’s 10-kilometer marathon swimming race on Saturday morning, edging out the competition by just nine seconds to claim the bronze medal.

Park crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 56 minutes and 0.3 seconds at the CSC Swimming Course in Chun’an, China, finishing 14.5 seconds behind winner Zhang Ziyang of China and 13 seconds behind second-place Lan Tianchen, also of China.

Japan’s Taishin Minamide came in fourth, with Taipei’s Cho Cheng-Chi 0.1 seconds behind him.

Marathon swimming is the only serious long distance swimming event in the Asian Games, taking place over a grueling 10-kilometer open water course. Despite the significant distance involved, races are still often decided by just a matter as the entire pack stays close together for the majority of the race.

Just 24 seconds separated the leading five racers on Saturday, with a two-minute gap before the majority of the racers started to cross the line. Korea’s Sung Jun-ho brought up the rear with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 50.5 seconds.

Park’s bronze medal is Korea’s only medal in marathon swimming this year. The event was newly-added at the Games this year, with China taking four of the six available medals.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]