[Finished third in the 400m freestyle preliminary round and advanced to the finals. Kim Woo-min “I will show my fighting spirit”]

Medal challenge at the finals early in the morning on the 12th

Kim Woo-min (23, Gangwon Provincial Office), a Korean mid- and long-distance star, reached the final in the men's 400m freestyle at the 2024 International Aquatics Federation World Championships.

Kim Woo-min hit the mark with a time of 3 minutes 45.14 seconds in Group 6 of the men's 400m freestyle preliminaries at the competition held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on the 11th.

Kim Woo-min, who came in second in the group and third out of 56 people in the preliminaries, won a ticket to the finals, which is given to the top eight players in the preliminaries.

Kim Woo-min, who raced in Group 6, the last group of the preliminaries, showed a world record pace of 1 minute 50.44 seconds until the 200m section, but fell behind little by little from the 250m section and came in second place in the group.

Elijah Winnington (Australia), who won the gold medal in this event at the 2022 Budapest World Championships, ranked first overall in the preliminary round with a time of 3 minutes 44.37 seconds. Lucas Martens (Germany), who won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2023 Fukuoka World Championships, took second place with 3 minutes 44.77 seconds.

Kim Woo-min succeeded in advancing to the finals of the 400m freestyle at the World Championships for the third time in a row.

Kim Woo-min ranked 6th overall in the 2022 World Championships 400m freestyle preliminaries and advanced to the finals, and finished the race in 6th place in the finals. Kim Woo-min was the second Korean athlete to reach the final of the men's 400m freestyle at the World Championships, following Park Tae-hwan.

At last year's World Championships, he entered the finals in 6th place in the preliminary round, and improved his ranking by one place to 5th in the finals.

Kim Woo-min will challenge himself to win a medal in the finals held at 1 a.m. on the 12th.

He further improved his medal chances by advancing to the finals of the World Championships qualifiers with his personal best placing.

Ahmed Hafnaoui (Tunisia), the silver medalist in this event at last year's Fukuoka World Championships, was eliminated in 17th place in the preliminary round, reducing the number of competitors by one.

Kim Woo-min is considered a world-class athlete in the 400m freestyle, which was also the main event of Korean swimming legend Park Tae-hwan.

The rise is steep. Kim Woo-min, who recorded 3 minutes 45.64 seconds in the 2022 World Championship finals, shortened his record again to 3 minutes 43.92 seconds in last year's finals.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games last September, he won three gold medals, winning gold medals in the 400m and 800m freestyle and the 800m relay.

Although many of the world's top athletes did not participate in this competition to focus on the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be held in five months, many strong athletes participated in the men's 400m freestyle.

Among the men's 400m freestyle 1st to 4th place finishers at last year's Fukuoka Games, the only one who did not participate in this competition was Samuel Short (Australia), who won the gold medal.

Kim Woo-min is determined to break his personal best record and stand on the podium. If he succeeds in winning a medal, he can also get a green light to participate in the Paris Olympics.

Park Tae-hwan was the only Korean athlete to win a medal in this event. Tae-hwan Park won gold medals in the men's 400m freestyle at the 2007 Melbourne and 2011 Shanghai World Championships.

After finishing the preliminaries, Kim Woo-min said through his management company All That Sports, “After playing the game, the local weather and water temperature were okay. “He is in good condition,” he said. “He became the first finalist for the Korean national team. “I think he started off in a good mood and had a positive influence on the national team,” he said.

He said, “I am happy to have placed third in the preliminaries with a time of 3 minutes and 45 seconds. He expressed his determination, saying, “I will show my determination and not giving up in the finals.”

19가이드03; https://www.19guide03.com

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Pub: 12 Feb 2024 03:16 UTC
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