[Asian Games] Today's Event: Hwang Sun-woo Competes in 100m Freestyle

China's Pan Zhanler and 9:26 PM Gold Medal Competition
Jeon Woongtae, An Baul, Song Sera, and Others Anticipate a 'Golden Day'

It is the day that South Korea is targeting as a 'Golden Day.' The atmosphere of the early competition is expected to be determined by the results of the matches on this first actual day of the event.

Swimming's Hwang Sun-woo, modern pentathlon's Jeon Woong-tae, and fencing's Song Se-ra will go after gold medals. Traditional medal strongholds Taekwondo and Judo also begin, aiming for 3 to 4 gold medals across the two sports on this day alone.

Hwang Sun-woo of the national swimming team is answering questions from reporters as he arrived through Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, China on the 21st.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Hwang Sun-woo will compete in the men's 100m freestyle. The preliminaries are scheduled for 11:49 AM, and the final, which will decide the gold medal, is set for 9:26 PM.

The showdown with China's Pan Zhanle draws attention. Hwang's main event is the 200m, and in the 100m, his record is behind Pan Zhanle's. Pan Zhanle set an Asian record of 47.22 seconds at the Chinese Championships last May. Hwang Sun-woo's personal best in the 100m is 47.56 seconds, set at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, which is 0.34 seconds slower than Pan Zhanle. At the 100m event at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, last July, Hwang failed to advance to the final, while Pan Zhanle reached the final and finished 4th with a time of 47.43 seconds.

Pan Zhanle's confidence is at a high level. The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Swimming Pool, where the competition will be held, is familiar to him and has given him good memories, which is advantageous for Pan Zhanle. The venue where Pan set the Asian record last May is the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Swimming Pool.

In the 200m event scheduled for the 27th, Hwang Sun-woo is the strong favorite for the gold medal. Hwang aims to win multiple titles in the 100m and the 800m relay scheduled for the 25th.

In fencing, Song Se-ra targets the gold medal in the women's individual ?p?e. This was the event where Kang Young-mi won gold at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. Kang Young-mi will only participate in the team event in this competition. Instead, Song Se-ra and world No.1 Choi In-jeong aim for gold. The preliminaries start at 1:30 PM, and the final will be held at 9:45 PM.

In modern pentathlon, Jeon Woong-tae challenges a second consecutive gold in the men's individual event. In the women's modern pentathlon, Kim Se-hee and Kim Sun-woo, who won silver and bronze respectively at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, are aiming for gold. The women's modern pentathlon event starts at 1 PM, and the men's event at 6 PM. The individual gold medals are likely to translate into team gold medals, as the team rankings in modern pentathlon are determined based on the top three individual scores from each country.

Jeon Woong-tae is competing in the laser-run (running + shooting) event during the men's modern pentathlon semifinals at the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games held on the 22nd at the Puyang Inhu Sports Center in China.
Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The gold rush in the 'national sport' Taekwondo also begins. Kang Wan-jin for men and Cha Ye-eun for women will compete in the Taekwondo poomsae events. The individual poomsae preliminaries will be held at Lin'an Sports Culture Exhibition Center at 10 AM, with the finals at 3 PM.

In judo, the men's 68kg and 60kg, and women's 48kg events will take place. The men's 68kg and 60kg categories are the most likely to yield gold medals. In the men's 68kg, An Ba-ul, who won gold at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, will compete, and Lee Ha-rim in the 60kg category is also a strong gold medal contender. Lee Ha-rim won bronze at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. Preliminaries start at 11 AM, and finals will be held sequentially from 5 PM.

In the women's 10m air rifle, Lee Eun-seo aims for the individual gold medal. The preliminaries are scheduled for 9:30 AM, and the final at 12:45 PM.

The men's soccer team will play their last group stage match against Bahrain starting at 8:30 PM. Having already secured advancement to the round of 16 with two consecutive wins, many players who have had limited playing time so far are expected to participate. Attention is focused on whether ace Lee Kang-in, who joined the national team on the 21st after completing the first group stage match of the 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League against Borussia Dortmund (Germany) with his club Paris Saint-Germain, will play.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.