Hwang Sunwoo Wins Bronze in 200m Freestyle... Consecutive Korean Records at World Championships

Bronze Medal in 1:44.42
0.12 Seconds Behind Winner Richards

Hwang Sun-woo (20, Gangwon Province Office) succeeded in winning a medal for the second consecutive time in the long course (50m) World Swimming Championships. He achieved a remarkable feat that even the 'original Marine Boy' Park Tae-hwan could not accomplish.

On the 25th, Hwang Sun-woo finished 3rd in the men's 200m freestyle final at the 2023 World Swimming Championships held at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall in Fukuoka, Japan, setting a new Korean record of 1 minute 44.42 seconds. He improved his time by 0.05 seconds compared to the Budapest competition last year. After setting a Korean record for two consecutive years, he won the bronze medal at this year's Fukuoka competition. He became the second Korean swimmer in history, after Park Tae-hwan, to win two or more World Championship medals.

During the race, Hwang Sun-woo was in second place behind David Popovici (Romania) up to the 150m mark, then succeeded in overtaking Popovici with an explosive final 50m sprint. However, unexpectedly, he was overtaken in the final stretch by two British swimmers, Matthew Richards (1:44.30, gold medal) and Tom Dean (1:44.32, silver medal).

After the race, Hwang said, "Popovici was almost 1 meter ahead, so I was just trying to catch him. After catching him at the end, I had a little hope for the gold medal, but Dean and Richards next to me sprinted incredibly. I regret not seeing that because they were not in the adjacent lanes, but I’m still happy to have set a personal best in the 200m and to have won a bronze medal, which I never had before."

Lee Ho-jun (22, Daegu Metropolitan City Office), who also competed in the final, finished 6th with a time of 1 minute 46.04 seconds.