South Korea picked up five medals on the second day of the swimming competition at the Asian Games on Monday, led by record-breaking sensation Kim Young-beom.
Kim won the men's 50-meter freestyle gold medal with an Asian record time of 21.66 seconds at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Just hours earlier in the heats, he had established the continental record with 21.71 seconds, and it did not even last a day.
In that same race, Ji Yu-chan, the 2023 Asiad gold medalist and the former record holder, got the bronze in 21.94 seconds.
There were three more bronze medals for South Korea -- by Yoon Ji-hwan in the men's 50m backstroke and Kim Seung-won in the 50m backstroke, and by the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team.
Yoon and Kim both reached the podium in their Asian Games debuts. But the men's relay team had a letdown in its title defense.
The quartet of Kim Jun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Hwang Sun-woo finished in 7:06.76, finishing a distant third behind China, which broke its own Asian record with 7:00.17. Japan won silver in 7:01.05.
From this year's South Korean team, Kim Woo-min, Lee and Hwang teamed up with a different member, Yang Jae-hoon, for the 2023 Asian Games gold with a then continental record time of 7:01.73. Even with three-quarters of that team back, and with Kim Woo-min and Hwang seemingly even better now than three years ago, South Korea took a few steps back in the relay.
After two days in the pool, South Korea has eight medals, with one gold, one silver and six bronze.
South Korea swept up 22 medals in 2023, its most ever at a single edition of the Asian Games, and is trying to equal or even surpass that total this year.
The swimming competition will conclude Friday. (Yonhap)
