'Will the first gold medal come from swimming?' Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Young-beom both advance to the men's 100m freestyle final! Head-to-head battle for the 'gold medal' with China's Pan Zhanle today (20th) at 5:53 p.m. [Aichi Nagoya AG]

*This content was translated by AI.

Korea's swimming ace Hwang Sun-woo (23) and sprint prodigy Kim Young-beom (20, both from Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Provincial Office) secured the 2nd and 3rd overall times in the preliminary heats of the men's 100m freestyle at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, advancing to the final.

On the 20th, Hwang Sun-woo touched the pad with a time of 48.13 seconds in Heat 5 of the men's 100m freestyle preliminaries held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan.

As a result, Hwang finished second in his heat and second overall among 43 swimmers in the preliminary heats, comfortably advancing to the final.

Starting from lane 5 in Heat 5, Hwang Sun-woo raced alongside Pan Zhanle of China (the "world's strongest") in lane 4. With a reaction time of 0.71 seconds upon entry, Hwang completed the first 50m split in the fastest time of his heat at 23.26 seconds, taking the lead.

While Hwang Sun-woo maintained the lead throughout, he was overtaken by Pan Zhanle (48.07) who surged in the final stretch. However, Hwang calmly maintained his pace until the end and finished the race in second place overall.

Earlier, Kim Young-beom, the Korean record holder who competed in Heat 4, recorded a time of 48.34 seconds, securing first place in his heat and third overall in the preliminary heats. Having broken Hwang Sun-woo's record at last year's National Sports Festival to set a new Korean record of 47.39 seconds, Kim Young-beom aims to reach the medal podium on his debut Asian Games stage.

The top spot in the preliminary heats overall was taken by Pan Zhanle, the 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist and world record holder (46.40). Japan's Murata Tatsuya, who holds the 2026 season Asian ranking No. 1 time (47.83), ranked fourth with a time of 48.57 seconds.

Hwang Sun-woo, who won the bronze medal in this event at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, will challenge for back-to-back medals and a gold medal at this venue where he set an Asian record (47.56) during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Meanwhile, the final to determine the medalists in the men's 100m freestyle will be held today at 5:53 p.m. at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

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*This content was translated by AI.