17-Year-Old High School Student Hwang Sun-woo Breaks Park Tae-hwan's Record...New Korean Record in 100m Freestyle

Hwang Sun-woo (left) and Seoul Physical Education High School coach Lee Byung-ho. Photo by Korea Swimming Federation.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] Hwang Sun-woo (17), a second-year student at Seoul Physical Education High School, surpassed swimmer Park Tae-hwan (31) in the 100m freestyle.

On the 18th, Hwang Sun-woo set a new Korean record of 48.25 seconds and won the men's 100m freestyle final at the 2020 National Swimming Team Selection Competition held at the Gimcheon Indoor Swimming Pool in Gyeongbuk.

The previous Korean record was 48.42 seconds, set by Park Tae-hwan in February 2014 at the New South Wales (NSW) State Open Championship in Australia.

Hwang Sun-woo reduced this record by 0.17 seconds after 6 years and 9 months.

Last month on the 15th, at the same venue during the 10th Gimcheon National Swimming Competition, Hwang won the men's high school division 100m freestyle final with a time of 48.51 seconds, just 0.09 seconds short of Park Tae-hwan's record, raising expectations for a new record.

Hwang Sun-woo also surpassed the Tokyo Olympics qualifying time (48.57 seconds), which was postponed to next year.

In this competition, athletes who will participate in intensive training at the Jincheon National Training Center in Chungbuk until the selection of the national team for the Tokyo Olympics next year are being chosen.

The Korea Swimming Federation plans to form a national team of 14 members, 7 men and 7 women, by ranking the first-place athletes in each detailed event based on FINA points from the results of this competition, which will be held until the 20th, and then start intensive training at the Jincheon National Training Center.

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