Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) surpassed the FINA A record in the men’s 800-meter freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024.

Hwang Sun-woo, 20, won the men’s 100-meter freestyle, failing to break the FINA A record but improving on the Korean Swimming Federation’s (KSF) own standard to keep his chances of qualifying for the event alive.

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 Trials at the Gimcheon Indoor Pool in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, on Friday, beating 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 time and pass the KSF standard time will be reviewed by the Performance Enhancement Committee to determine if they will compete at the World Championships.

Woo-min Kim won the race with a KSF A time and qualified for the World Championships in Doha.

“I didn’t compete in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the trials because I wanted to be competitive in the 400-meter and 800-meter 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 sprint in the late stages. 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.

He hopes to win a medal in the 400-meter freestyle and reach the 800-meter final at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.

Hwang Sun-woo (South Korea) won the 100-meter freestyle final in 48.57, ahead of Lee Yoo-yeon (Goyang City Hall) in 49.34.

His time was disappointing.

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

The standard for automatic qualification to the Doha World Championships, as announced by the Korean Swimming Federation, is ‘athletes who have passed the FINA A record in the final of the national selection trials’.

However, Hwang Sun-woo had previously surpassed the 100-meter freestyle A record during the A record recognition period (Oct. 1, 2022 to Dec. 19, this year) set by the International Swimming Federation.

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 specialty, having won two consecutive medals at the World Championships (second in Budapest in 2022 and third in Fukuoka in 2023). 안전놀이터