Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) and Kim Seo-young (29, Gyeongbuk Provincial Office) won their respective events at the national trials, surpassing the International Swimming Federation’s A standard to qualify for the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

Kim touched the touch pad in 7:52.84 to win the men’s 800-meter freestyle final at the 2024 Swimming Management National Selection Tournament at Gimcheon Indoor Pool in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, on Friday, ahead of Kim Young-hyun (Anyang City Hall), who finished the race in 8:01.02.

Kim’s time was 0.27 seconds faster than the International Swimming Federation A record of 7:53.11 in the men’s 800-meter freestyle.

He will qualify for the World Championships in Doha next February if he breaks the FINA A record and finishes in the top two in his event at the trials.

The first-place finishers in each event who do not exceed the FINA A record and pass the Korean Swimming Federation (KSF) standard time will be considered by the Performance Improvement Committee to determine if they will compete at the World Championships.

Woo-min Kim qualified for the Doha World Championships by breaking the International Swimming Federation A record.

“I didn’t compete in the 1,500m freestyle at the trials because I wanted to be competitive in the 400m and 800m freestyle at the Doha World Championships,” Kim told All That Sports after the race. “I think I can do well at the World Championships if I keep a fast pace in the early stages and improve my late spurt. I will do my best in the remaining 200m and 400m freestyle trials.”

Kim won three gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games in the 400m and 800m freestyle and the men’s 800m freestyle relay.

Having established himself as Asia’s top freestyle swimmer in the middle and long distances, Kim will be looking to ‘break into the center of the world’ at the Doha World Championships.

At last year’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Kim finished fifth in the 400-meter freestyle and 14th in the 800-meter freestyle.

Kim Woo-min’s goals for the Doha 2024 World Championships are to win a medal in the 400-meter freestyle and reach the 800-meter final.

South Korean businesswoman Kim Seo-young also took the top spot in the women’s 200-meter individual medley final with a time of 2:12.12, breaking the International Swimming Federation A record (2:12.98).

It was her fifth consecutive appearance at the World Championships, where she has competed since 2017.

“The World Aquatics Championships, which used to be held every two years, has been held every year in the wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and athletes are pushing hard,” Kim said after the race. “As I have more opportunities, I want to do my best and show a good performance every moment.”

Hwang Sun-woo (Gangwon Provincial Office) won the men’s 100-meter freestyle final in 48.57, ahead of Lee Yoo-yeon (Goyang City Hall) in 49.34.

The times were disappointing.

On the day, Hwang fell short of the International Swimming Federation A record (48.51).

The criteria for automatic qualification to the Doha World Championships announced by the Korean Swimming Federation is ‘swimmers who finish first and second in the final of the national selection trials, passing the International Federation A record’.

However, Hwang Sun-woo has a history of surpassing the 100-meter freestyle A record during the A record recognition period set by the International Swimming Federation, which is from Oct. 1, 2022, to Dec. 19 of this year.

He clocked 47.79 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle at the Gwangju National Championships in June and 48.08 seconds in the semifinals of the Fukuoka World Championships in July.

He passed the KSF standard of 49.24 and is likely to compete in the 100-meter freestyle at the Doha World Championships on the recommendation of the Korean Swimming Federation’s Performance Enhancement Committee.

Hwang will compete in the 200-meter freestyle final on Sunday afternoon. The 200-meter freestyle is Hwang’s main event at the World Championships, where he has won two consecutive medals (second in Budapest in 2022 and third in Fukuoka in 2023).

“I didn’t have a good time because I wasn’t at 100%, but I finished first, which is a good step for me to prepare for next year’s World Championships,” said Hwang. “I will race the 200m freestyle final as part of my preparation for the World Championships. I will also be competing in the 50-meter freestyle (heats on Sunday, finals on Monday), and I will do my best to get closer to my personal best in this event as well.”

Heo Yeon-kyung (Bangsango) won the women’s 100-meter freestyle in a new Korean record of 54.49.

She shaved 0.21 seconds off her previous best of 54.70 set at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Sept. 26, just over two months ago.

Although Heo failed to break the International Swimming Federation A record of 54.25, she passed the KSF standard of 55.06 to keep her chances of qualifying for the Doha World Championships alive.

After the race, Heo confessed, “I was exhausted from training without a break after the National Games, so I was very stressed because I couldn’t give 100% in training.” “My time (55.09) was better than I thought in the preliminaries, so I felt confident. I competed with the thought, ‘Let’s do our best,’ and I got a good result,” she said.

Kim Min-seok (Busan City Swimming Federation) won the men’s 200-meter individual medley in 2:00.48 and Handa-kyung (Jeonbuk Sports Association) won the women’s 800-meter freestyle in 8:40.67.

Both Kim Min-seok and Handa-kyung failed to reach the International Swimming Federation A records (1:59.53 in the men’s 200-meter individual medley and 8:37.90 in the women’s 800-meter freestyle), but passed the KSF standards (2:01.32 in the men’s 200-meter individual medley and 8:45.67 in the women’s 800-meter freestyle). 토토