First ‘2 finals in 1 day’… Busy Hwang Sun-woo to complete Super Friday
Hwang Sun-woo (Gangwon Provincial Office) will compete in the first ‘two finals in one day’ of the competition. As if he wasn’t busy enough, Hwang will complete a super gold medal day.
Hwang will compete in the men’s 200m freestyle and 400m mixed medley relay at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Sunday at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Pool in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
Sunwoo Hwang’s first day of competition began on the 24th. He competed in the men’s 100-meter freestyle, the 800-meter freestyle relay and the 400-meter medley relay. Hwang usually competes in the morning preliminaries and finals in the evening, but this day will be different. Following the morning heats, there will be two finals in the evening.
Sunwoo Hwang competed in the men’s 200-meter freestyle preliminaries in the morning. He raced in heat three and finished first overall out of 36 swimmers with a time of 1:47.08. He was among the top eight swimmers in his heat and punched his ticket to the finals.
There was a break in the 400-meter medley relay preliminaries. The team of Lee Ju-ho (Seogwipo City Hall, backstroke), Choi Dong-yeol (Gangwon Provincial Office, breaststroke), Kim Seo-young (Gyeongbuk Provincial Office, butterfly), and Heo Yeon-kyung (Bingsango, freestyle) finished third overall in 3:51.03. Hwang Sun-woo will swim the freestyle in the 400-meter medley relay final.
The men’s 200-meter freestyle will be the first event of the day. At 8:48 p.m. (KST), Hwang will go for his first Asian Games gold medal. This will be followed by the 400-meter medley relay at 9:57 p.m. after a one-hour break.
It’s a grueling schedule for the swimmers, who will have an hour to quickly recover, warm up and get back into competition shape.
Still, if Hwang Sun-woo performs, South Korea could complete a super Friday. Hwang is a strong favorite in the 200m freestyle. He won a bronze medal in the men’s 200m at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships in July, breaking the Korean record in 1:44.42. This was just 0.03 seconds off the Asian record set by Sun Yang (CHINA). It’s a sign of confidence.
Hwang told the media a day earlier (26), “Tomorrow (27) is my complete main event, the 200-meter freestyle. I don’t think I’m in bad shape right now, so I’ll take good care of myself and hopefully get the results I’ve been working so hard for,” he said, expressing his strong desire to win gold.
The mixed medley relay 400m is also worth watching. Women’s swimming sensation Kim Seo-young will be joining the team. The one-two punch of Korean men’s and women’s swimming will be highly anticipated. Korea will be looking to break the national record of 3:47.09 set at the Fukuoka World Aquatics Championships and improve on their third place finish at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games 토토사이트.
Meanwhile, if Hwang Sun-woo wins gold in the men’s 200m freestyle, he will make history as the first Korean swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Asian Games in 13 years, since Marine Boy Park Tae-hwan won three at the 2006 Doha and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. A podium finish in the 400-meter mixed medley relay would complete the trifecta.
Hwang will compete in the second final on day one. Will he be able to achieve his goal of a gold medal and give Korea a super golden day?