[Asian Games] First Swimming Gold Possible... Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay & 50m Freestyle Anticipated

Ke-yeong Advances to Finals as 1st in 800m Heats
Ji Yuchan Also Surprises with 1st Place in 50m Freestyle

Expectations are rising that the first gold medal in swimming at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games will be won on the 25th.

South Korea's national swimming team competed in all seven swimming relay events held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Swimming Pool in Zhejiang Province, China, and consecutively advanced to the finals.

First, the highly anticipated men's 4x200m freestyle relay team easily secured their place in the final.

Korean male swimming middle-distance star Kim Woo-min is showing a thumbs-up after finishing first in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay heats at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held on the 25th at the Olympic Sports Center Swimming Pool in Hangzhou, China.
Photo by Yonhap News

The South Korean men's 4x200m freestyle relay team ranked first overall in the preliminaries with a time of 7 minutes 12.84 seconds. China (7 minutes 12.96 seconds) and Japan (7 minutes 13.38 seconds) followed.

South Korea formed the team for the preliminaries with Lee Yooyeon, Kim Geonwoo, Yang Jaehoon, and Kim Woomin, excluding their sprint stars Hwang Sunwoo and Lee Hojun. China also rested their key swimmers Pan Zhanle and Yang Haoyu, who won gold and silver in the 100m freestyle the previous day, during the preliminaries. A fierce competition is expected in the finals held that afternoon.

Ji Yuchan surprised by taking first place in the men's 50m freestyle preliminaries. He set a new Korean and meet record with a time of 21.84 seconds, beating Hong Kong's Ho Ian Yentau (22.07 seconds), who finished second, by 0.23 seconds.

Jiyuchan is cheering after setting a new competition record with a time of 21.84 seconds and finishing first in the men's 50m freestyle heats at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, held on the 25th at the Olympic Sports Center Swimming Pool in Hangzhou, China.
Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Heo Yeongyeong advanced to the finals in second place overall in the women's 200m freestyle preliminaries with a time of 2 minutes 00.18 seconds. Choi Dongyeol also qualified for the finals in second place overall in the men's 100m breaststroke preliminaries with a time of 59.90 seconds. Jo Seongjae advanced to the finals in sixth place with a time of 1 minute 01.68 seconds.

Although Heo Yeongyeong and Choi Dongyeol showed a relatively large gap compared to the Chinese swimmers who ranked first in the preliminaries, they aim to cause an upset in the finals.

The top qualifier in the women's 200m freestyle preliminaries was China's Li Bingjie, who recorded 1 minute 58.90 seconds, 1.28 seconds faster than Heo Yeongyeong. Li Bingjie already won two gold medals the previous day in the women's 1500m freestyle and women's 4x100m freestyle relay, and she is aiming for a triple crown at the 200m freestyle final.

In the men's 100m breaststroke preliminaries, China's Qin Haiyang set a new meet record and took first place with a time of 58.35 seconds, 1.55 seconds faster than Choi Dongyeol. Qin Haiyang is a formidable competitor who won four titles at the 2023 World Championships.

Lee Juho, who won bronze in the men's 100m backstroke the previous day, qualified for the finals in fifth place overall in the men's 50m backstroke preliminaries with a time of 25.39 seconds. Lee Eunji also advanced to the finals in fifth place overall in the women's 50m backstroke preliminaries with a time of 28.80 seconds.

Kim Seoyeong, who is aiming for her second consecutive win in the women's 200m individual medley, qualified for the finals in seventh place overall. Kim Seoyeong's time was 2 minutes 16.27 seconds, 2.34 seconds behind the first-place swimmer.

The swimming relay finals on this day will be held according to Korean time as follows: men's 50m backstroke at 8:30 PM, women's 50m backstroke at 8:36 PM, men's 50m freestyle at 8:42 PM, women's 200m freestyle at 8:48 PM, men's 100m breaststroke at 9:13 PM, women's 200m individual medley at 9:28 PM, and men's 4x200m freestyle relay at 9:54 PM.

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